:i 


"/ 


REESE    LIBRARY 

OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA 

Re  c erred. 
Accessions  No,2^-S*#/        Shelf  No... 


THE 


PLAIN    GUIDE 


TO 


UNIVERSALISM 


TO  LEAD  INQUIRERS  TO  THE' BELIEF  OP  THAT  DOCTRINE, 
AND  BELIEVERS  TO  THE  PRACTICE  OF  IT. 


"  To  guide  our  feet  into  the  w«iy  of  peace."  —  Luke  i.  79. 


PUBLISHED    BY  THE    AUTHOR, 

No.    37    CORHHILL. 

1840. 


U/jT 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1840,  by 

THOMAS   WHITTEMORE, 
in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDGE  : 

STEREOTYPED  BY 

FOLSOM,  WELLS,    AND   THURSTON. 


UNIVERSITY 


THIS  work  has  been  prepared  for  the  benefit  of  in- 
quirers after  truth ;  for  those  that  ask,  Who  are  Universal- 
ists  ?  What  are  the  points  of  their  faith  ?  What  proofs 
can  be  found  in  the  Scriptures  of  their  distinguishing  sen- 
timents ?  How  do  they  explain  the  passages  which  others 
adduce  to  disprove  Universalism  ?  How  do  they  meet  the 
common  objections  ?  We  propose  in  this  work  to  answer 
these  questions,  and  thus  to  lead  candid  inquirers  to  the 
belief  of  the  doctrine  maintained  by  Universalists. 

This  work  is  also  designed  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
have  already,  in  theory,  embraced  Universalism.  We 
propose  to  show  what  are  the  duties  of  Universalists ;  that 
Universalists  are  divided  into  two  classes,  negative  and 
positive,  or  those  who  merely  profess  Universalism,  and 
those  who  believe  it  with  a  living  faith,  and  make  it  the 
ground  of  their  conduct :  the  moral  excellence  of  that  sys- 
tem of  faith  will  be  clearly  pointed  out :  and  thus  we  hope 
to  lead  believers  of  Universalism  to  the  practice  of  it. 

At  the  end  of  the  work  will  be  found  four  very  full  in- 
dexes ;  thus  any  subject  treated  on  in  this  work  may  easily 
be  found.  Does  the  reader  wish  to  know  if  any  passage 
of  Scripture  is  explained,  which  he  may  have  in  his  mind  ? 
he  has  only  to  turn  to  the  index  of  TEXTS,  and  the  page  on 
which  he  will  find  the  desired  explanation,  is  shown  him 
at  once. 

In  regard  to  all  the  passages  illustrated  in  the  fifth  chap- 
ter, I  take  the  liberty  to  refer  to  "  Paige's  Selections,"  a 
work  of  great  value  to  the  denomination  of  Universalists, 
giving,  as  it  does,  the  opinions  of  all  the  eminent  commen- 
tators in  regard  to  these  texts.  I  sincerely  commend  this 


4  PREFACE. 

work  to  the  public.  I  have  made  frequent  quotations  from 
the  works  of  that  great  theologian,  Dr.  John  Lightfoot. 
My  references  all  have  respect  to  the  edition  published  in 
London,  by  Rev.  J.  R.  Pitman,  1825,  13  vols.  8vo. 

The  Scriptural  proofs  of  Universalism,  contained  in 
Chapter  III.,  are  as  full  as  the  space  would  allow,  which  I 
allotted  for  that  purpose.  Let  it  be  observed,  that  these 
are  scriptural  proofs  merely.  Many  of  the  arguments 
which  Universalists  employ,  are  unavoidably  omitted.  The 
basis  of  the  arguments  in  Chapter  III.,  is  the  original  "  One 
Hundred  Arguments  for  Universalism,"  published  by  me 
several  years  ago.  While  I  have  retained  the  substance 
of  that  little  work,  the  arguments  are  so  much  enlarged, 
that  its  visage  will  hardly  be  recognised.  I  have  put  down 
under  each  sacred  author,  what  he  has  said  on  the  great 
salvation ;  but  in  some  cases,  where  the  testimony  had 
been  included  under  some  other  head,  it  is  omitted  under 
the  author's  name. 

My  original  purpose  was,  to  have  concluded  this  work 
with  some  observations  of  my  own,  on  the  evidences  of  re- 
vealed religion  ;  but  I  soon  abandoned  that  design,  on  ac- 
count of  my  inability  to  compress  the  principal  evidences 
into  the  compass  of  one  chapter.  But  I  have  given  entire 
(what  I  am  sure  is  much  better  for  the  reader)  that  inesti- 
mable work,  which  never  yet  has  been  answered,  Leslie's 
"Short  Method  with  the  Deists,"  —  one  of  the  most  pop- 
ular and  valuable  essays  in  defence  of  revealed  religion, 
that  has  ever  been  published.  In  some  very  slight  in- 
stances, I  have  modified  his  phraseology,  to  avoid  his  refer- 
ences to  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery,  which  he  seems 
fully  to  have  believed. 

THOMAS  WHITTEMORE. 
MARCH  1st,  1840. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Who  are  Universalists  ? 7 

CHAPTER  II. 
What  do  Universalists  believe  ?          ....     15 

CHAPTER  HI. 

\\rhat  Evidences  do  Universalists  adduce  from  the 
Scriptures  in  Support  of  their  Belief  in  the  Event- 
ual Holiness  and  Happiness  of  all  Men  ?  .  .23 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Passages  from  the  Old  Testament  explained,  which 
are  adduced  to  disprove  the  Sentiments  of  Uni- 
versalists, .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .55 

CHAPTER  V. 

Passages  from  the  New  Testament  explained,  which 
are  adduced  to  disprove  the  Sentiments  of  Uni- 
versalists, .  77 

1* 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Popular  Objections  to  Universalism  considered,       .     250 

CHAPTER  VII. 

What  are  the  Duties  of  Universalists  ?  .        .         .    277 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

On  the  Formation  of  Universalist  Societies,   .         .    294 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Lord's  Supper, 317 

CHAPTER  X. 

On  the  Organization  of  Churches,  and  the  Adminis- 
tration of  the  Supper, 337 

CHAPTER  XL 
Evidences  of  Revealed  Religion,  .         .        .     346 


General  Index, 

Index  of  Authors,      ......  394 

Index  of  Texts 400 

Index  of  Greek  Phrases  408 


UNIVERSITY 


PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 


CHAPTER  I. 

WHO  ARE  UNIVERSALISTS  ? 

I.  UNIVERSALISTS  are  those  who  believe  in   the 
eventual  holiness  and  happiness  of  all  the  human  race, 
as  revealed  to  the  world  in  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

They  are  supposed  by  some  to  be  of  a  very  recent 
origin  ;  but  it  is  well  known,  that  there  have  been  Uni- 
versalists  in  almost  every  age,  since  the  word  of  God 
was  revealed  to  the  children  of  men. 

II.  Even  in  the  Old  Testament  we  find  very  distinct 
traces  of  the  doctrine  of  Universalism.     The  promises 
of  God  to  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob ;  the  prophecies 
of  David,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  several  other  of  the 
prophets,  distinctly  foretell  the  approach  of  the  time, 
when  sin  shall  be  finished,  and  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  shall  be  blessed  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

"  Jesus  Christ  not  only  revealed  God  in  the  specific 
character  of  a  Father,  and  declared  the  love  of  God  to 
the  world,  even  to  the  evil  and  to  the  unthankful,  as  the 
cause  of  his  own  mission,  and  laid  down  other  distin- 
guishing principles  of  Universalism  ;  but  he  also  pro- 
fessed, explicitly .,  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  — 
not  a  part  merely  ;  asserted,  that  he  would  actually 
draw  all  men  unto  him  ;  and  maintained,  that  all  who 
shall  be  raised  from  the  dead  will  be  equal  unto  the  an- 
gels, and  be  the  children  of  God,  being  the  children  of 
the  resurrection.  *  *  *  *  St.  Paul  taught  a  gathering  of 


8  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UN1VERSALISM. 

all  things  unto  Christ,  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of 
times,  —  a  universal  reconciliation  to  God,  through  the 
blood  of  the  cross  ;  that  God  had  included  all  in  unbe- 
lief, in  order  to  have  mercy  upon  all  ;  that  of  him,  and 
through  him,  and  to  him,  are  all  things  ;  that  Christ 
must  reign  until  all  things  are  subdued  unto  him  ;  till 
all  be  made  alive  in  him,  so  that,  when  he  shall  deliver  up 
the  kingdom  to  the  Father,  God  shall  be  ALL  IN  ALL." 
—  (Universalist  Expositor,  Vol.  IV.  pp.  185,  186.) 

III.  We  find  distinct  traces  of  Universalism  in  the 
Christian  church  immediately  after  the  age  of  the  apos- 
tles, especially  among  the  different  sects  of  the  Gnos- 
tics ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  a  belief  in  the  final 
salvation  of  all  men  was  not  made  a  subject  either  of 
objection  or  reproach,  for  two  or  three  hundred  years 
after  the  death  of  the  Saviour.  There  are  very  few 
works  belonging  to  this  period,  that  are  extant.  "We 
find  a  distinct  trace  of  Universalism  in  the  Sybylline 
Oracles,  that  appeared  about  A.  D.  140  or  150.  Cle- 
ment, of  Alexandria,  the  president  of  the  renowned 
Catechetical  School  in  that  city,  held  the  doctrine  of 
Universalism.  He  was  the  most  learned  and  illustrious 
of  all  the  Christian  fathers  before  Origen.  Origen,  as 
is  well  known,  was  a  decided  Universalist,  and  taught 
and  defended  this  doctrine  in  almost  all  his  works.  He 
was  born  A.  D.  185.  It  does  not  seem,  that  during 
his  life,  any  objections  were  made  to  him  by  his  contem- 
poraries on  account  of  his  believing  in  the  salvation  of 
all  mankind.  Immediately  after  Origen's  day,  we  per- 
ceive, that  many  of  the  fathers  maintained  the  doctrine 
of  Universalism.  Marcellus,  Bishop  of  Ancyra,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  a  Universalist,  and  also  Titus,  Bish- 
op of  Bostra,  who  maintained  (A.  D.  364),  that  the 
torments  of  hell  are  remedial,  and  salutary  in  their  ef- 
fects upon  transgressors.  Gregory,  Bishop  of  Nyssa, 
was  a  decided  Universalist,  A.  D.  380.  He  believed, 
that  all  punishment  would  be  remedial,  and  that,  in 
the  end,  all  mankind,  and  even  the  Devil  himself,  will 
be  subdued  and  purified.  One  of  his  favorite  proofs 


WHO  ARE  UNIVERSALISTS  ?  9 

of  Universalism,  was  1  Cor.  15th  chapter.  Gregory 
Nazianzen,  or  Gregory,  Bishop  of  Nazianzus,  was 
probably  a  Universalist.  He  was  promoted  (A.  D. 
378)  to  the  Archbishopric  of  Constantinople.  Next 
come  the  Origenists,  a  sect  who  were  distinguished  by 
that  appellation.  They  were  the  warm  admirers  of  Ori- 
gen,  and  doubtless  believed  in  the  final  happiness  of  all 
men  ;  but  their  early  opponents,  who  pursued  them  with 
much  zeal,  did  not  object  to  their  faith  in  this  particu- 
Zar,  although  they  sought  every  means  to  make  them 
odious.  It  was  not  until  many  years  afterwards,  that 
Universalism  was  considered  a  matter  of  objection  and 
reproach.  The  famous  Jerome,  in  the  early  part  of  his 
life,  was  a  Universalist  ;  but,  at  a  later  period,  he  was 
led  by  a  theological  and  personal  quarrel,  to  take  sides 
against  this  doctrine.  Evagrius,  a  native  of  Pontus, 
but  a  scholar  of  Basil  the  Great,  and  of  Gregory  Na- 
zianzen, is  said  by  the  ancients  to  have  taught,  with 
Didymus,  the  doctrine  of  Universal  salvation.  Diodo- 
rus,  Bishop  of  Tarsus,  in  Cilicia,  was  a  Universalist 
(A.  D.  378).  "  The  wicked,"  he  says,  "  are  to  suf- 
fer, not  eternal  torment,  (for  that  would  render  their 
immortality  of  no  avail,)  but  a  punishment  proportioned 
in  length  to  the  amount  of  their  guilt  ;  after  which  they 
are  to  enjoy  a  happiness  without  end."  Theodore, 
Bishop  of  Mopsuestia  (A.  D.  392),  renowned  as  one  of 
the  ablest  theologians  and  critics  of  his  time,  was  a  Uni- 
versalist, as  is  asserted  by  the  ancients.  About  the 
same  time  flourished  Fabius  Manus  Victorinus,  who 
wras  converted  to  Christianity  about  A.  D.  350  ;  he 
also  was  a  Universalist.  He  maintained,  that  "  Christ 
will  regenerate  all  things  ;  through  him  all  things  will  be 
purged,  and  return  into  eternal  life.  And  when  the 
Son  shall  deliver  up  the  kingdom  to  the  Father,  all 
things  will  be  God  ;  that  is,"  he  adds,  "  all  things  will 
still  exist,  but  God  will  exist  in  them,  and  they  will  be 
full  of  him."  Universalism  spread  wide  in  the  church 
about  this  period. 

Among  the  Gnostics  it  was  extensively  received,  and 


10  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  Manichaeans,  a  very  powerful  sect,  held  that  sentiment. 
Till  the  year  390,  or  rather  394,  the  doctrine  of  CJni- 
versalism  was  never  impeached  in  the  Christian  world, 
either  by  orthodox  or  heretic.  Among  the  heretics  (that 
is,  such  as  were  so  regarded  for  other  reasons)  we  find 
broad  traces  of  it  from  the  beginning.  Of  the  orthodox 
Fathers,  notwithstanding  some  of  them  seem  to  leave 
the  matter  in  doubt,  yet  from  the  year  140  or  150  on- 
ward, they  show  us  many  evidences,  that  the  sentiment 
prevailed.  That  doctrine  prevailed  most  in  the  east- 
ern church,  and  in  those  places  near  the  Holy  Land, 
where  the  influence  of  the  teachings  of  Christ  and  his 
apostles  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  the  most  strong- 
ly felt.  In  the  western  or  Latin  church,  there  were  in- 
deed instances  of  persons  who  defended  it  ;  but  the 
influence  of  the  pagan  philosophy  was  here  more  pow- 
erfully felt. 

In  the  year  394  a  quarrel  broke  out  in  the  East,  be- 
tween the  Origenists,  and  their  opponents,  in  which 
some  of  the  latter  attacked,  for  the  first  time,  the  par- 
ticular tenet  of  the  ultimate  salvation  of  the  Devil,  but 
did  not  at  first  object  to  the  final  salvation  of  all  men  ; 
and,  in  399,  some  of  the  councils,  that  were  convened 
against  the  Origenists,  condemned  expressly  the  doc- 
trine of  the  salvation  of  the  Devil  and  his  angels, 
though  they  passed  by  the  kindred  belief  of  the  salvation 
of  all  mankind,  without  a  censure.  Soon,  however, 
the  doctrine  of  the  final  salvation  of  all  men  was  con- 
demned, but  still  it  continued  to  prevail  ;  and  it  finally 
became  necessary,  in  the  Fifth  General  Council,  which 
was  opened  at  Constantinople,  May  4th,  553,  to  pass 
a  formal  condemnation  and  anathema.  At  the  close  of 
this  anathema  the  council  decreed,  —  "  Whoever  says 
or  thinks  that  the  torments  of  the  demons  and  of  impi- 
ous men  are  temporal,  so  that  they  will,  at  length,  come 
to  an  end,  or  whoever  holds  a  restoration  either  of  the 
demons,  or  of  the  impious,  let  him  be  anathema." 
Thus  we  see,  that  for  at  least  four  hundred  years  after 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  the  doctrine  of  Uni- 
versalism  was  scarcely  objected  to  in  the  church. 


WHO  ARE  UNIVERSALISTS  ?  1 1 

For  further  information  on  this  subject,  I  refer  the 
reader  to  that  very  valuable  work,  now  rarely  to  be 
found  in  the  market,  "The  Ancient  History  of  Uni- 
versalism,"  by  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou  2d,  and  also  to  his 
abridged  history  in  the  a  Universalist  Expositor,"  (Vol. 
IV.  pp.  184  —  209,)  to  which  I  confess  myself  much 
indebted. 

IV.  The  doctrine  of  Universalism  being  thus  con- 
demned and  put  down  by  the  highest  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority, it  continued  to  meet  with  less  and  less  favor. 
The  church,  too,  was  fast  sinking  into  ignorance  and 
vice  ;  and  soon  almost  every  feature  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity was  obliterated  and  lost.  Of  course,  but  slight 
traces  of  it  can  be  seen,  until  the  light  of  the  glorious 
REFORMATION  broke  upon  the  world. 

No  sooner  did  men  begin  again  to  think  for  them- 
selves, and  to  throw  off  the  shackles  of  ecclesiastical 
despotism,  than  we  discover  anew  indications  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Universalism.  It  was  embraced  by  the  Ana- 
baptists of  Germany,  who  were  cruelly  persecuted  on 
account  of  their  faith  ;  and  who  were  condemned,  in 
the  famous  Augustin  Confession,  among  other  things, 
for  believing  in  the  eventual  restoration  of  all  men  to 
holiness  and  happiness.  When  the  Reformation  took  its 
rise  in  England,  Universalism  came  up  with  it,  and  it 
was  defended  with  great  zeal  by  the  Anabaptists  in  that 
kingdom  ;  so  much  so,  that  it  was  judged  necessary,  in 
forming  the  XL  IT  Articles  of  the  English  Church,  to 
introduce  a  special  condemnation  of  Universalism, 
which  may  be  found  in  the  42d  Article.  These  arti- 
cles afterwards  were  reduced  to  XXXIX,  and  the  con- 
demnation of  Universalism  was  omitted.  In  1648  par- 
liament passed  a  statute,  denouncing  the  punishment  of 
death  upon  those  who  denied  the  doctrine  of  a  future 
judgment  ;  or  if  they  held  to  the  final  salvation  of  all 
wen,  they  should  be  seized  and  imprisoned  until  they 
gave  sufficient  sureties,  that  they  would  teach  said  doc- 
trine no  more.  Still  there  were  not  wanting  those  who 
defended  this  doctrine,  even  under  so  great  peril,  among 


12  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

whom  we  may  name  Gerard  Winstanley,  William  Eve- 
rard,  William  Earbury,  Richard  Coppin,  and  others. 
About  this  time,  the  work  entitled,  "Eternal  Hell  Tor- 
ments Overthrown,"  was  written  and  published  by 
Samuel  Richardson.  Soon  after  this,  Jeremy  White, 
who  had  been  a  chaplain  to  Cromwell,  published  a  book 
in  defence  of  Universalism,  entitled,  ct  The  Restora- 
tion of  all  Things."  Shortly  after,  and  not  far  from 
1700,  several  eminent  men  came  out  against  the  doc- 
trine of  eternal  torments,  among  whom  we  may  name 
Dr.  Henry  More,  Archbishop  Tillotson,  Dr.  Thomas 
Burnet,  and  William  Whiston.  Dr.  Burnet  wrote  de- 
cidedly in  favor  of  Universalism,  in  a  work  entitled, 
"  De  Statu  Mortuorum."  Sir  Isaac  Newton  inclined 
to  the  same  doctrine.  Dr.  George  Cheyne  and  the 
Chevalier  Ramsay,  both  distinguished  men,  came  out 
in  favor  of  that  sentiment.  Paul  Siegvolk,  a  learned 
German,  published  a  work  in  defence  of  the  same  point, 
as  did  also  John  William  Petersen.  Many  others,  very 
learned  men,  in  Germany,  embraced  this  doctrine.  It 
spread  also  in  Holland,  Switzerland,  Ireland,  and  Scot- 
land. In  the  latter  country,  Neil  Douglass  and  James 
Purves  distinguished  themselves  as  the  defenders  and 
preachers  of  the  doctrine.  To  return  to  England,  we 
may  name,  as  eminent  Universalists,  Dr.  David  Hart- 
ley, who  wrote  the  "  Observations  on  Man,"  Bishop 
Thomas  Newton,  Sir  George  Stonehouse,  John  Hen- 
derson, James  Brown,  D.  D.,  Rev.  R.  Barbauld,  and 
his  accomplished  lady,  Mrs.  Anna  Letitia  Barbauld,  the 
authoress,  and  Rev.  John  Brown.  Among  the  English 
Unitarians  we  may  mention  Rev.  Theophilus  Lindsey, 
Rev.  Joseph  Priestley,  L.  L.  D.,  Rev.  John  Simpson, 
and  Rev.  Messrs.  Kenrick,  Wright,  Estlin,  Belsham, 
Carpenter,  Aspland,  Grundy,  Scott,  Fox,  Harris,  and 
many  others. 

James  Relly  began  to  preach  Universalism  in  the 
city  of  London  about  1750,  and  gathered  a  congrega- 
tion of  believers  there.  The  celebrated  JOHN  MUR- 
RAY was  converted  under  Mr.  Relly's  labors,  having 


WHO  ARE  UNIVERSALISTS  ?  13 

formerly  been  a  Methodist.  In  1770,  Mr.  Murray 
came  to  America,  and  was  soon  called  on  to  preach 
the  .doctrine  of  a  world's  salvation.  He  labored  abun- 
dantly in  the  good  cause,  as  did  also  Elhanan  Winches- 
ter, a  convert  from  the  Baptists.  The  Universalists  of 
the  United  States  are  under  great  obligations  to  these 
two  men  ;  and  should  always  respect  and  venerate  their 
memories.  There  are  now  in  the  United  States  nearly 
five  hundred  preachers  of  Universalism,  and  the  num- 
ber of  believers,  and  societies,  and  churches,  is  con- 
tinually increasing. 

V.  It  will  be  seen,  from  what  has  been  said,  that  the 
views  of  those  persons,  who  suppose  that  Universalism 
was  not  known  until  quite  recently,  are  erroneous.  It 
is  no  new  doctrine.  It  had  its  advocates  in  the  earliest 
ages  of  the  church,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  dark 
ages,  it  has  had  them  ever  since.  Universalism  can 
claim  great  antiquity.  It  has  also  been  embraced  and 
defended  by  some  of  the  most  learned  and  pious  men 
the  world  hath  ever  seen. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  Christian  Fa- 
thers defended  Universalism  as  the  doctrine  of  the  sa- 
cred Scriptures.  Clemens  of  Alexandria,  the  renowned 
Origen,  Gregory,  of  Nyssa,  and  others,  quoted  much 
the  same  texts  to  prove  that  sentiment,  that  are  now 
quoted  for  that  purpose  by  Universalists  of  the  present 
age.  They  used  the  words  eternal  and  everlasting,  not 
to  signify  endless  duration  when  applied  to  punishment, 
but  they  used  them  in  a  limited  sense.  It  was  not  un- 
til nearly  four  hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Christ, 
that  Universalism  was  regarded  as  worthy  of  condem- 
nation, and  it  was  not  formally  condemned  by  any  gen- 
eral council,  until  the  meeting  of  the  Fifth  General 
Council,  in  553.  The  four  previous  General  Councils 
had  not  condemned  it,  although  it  had  been  believed, 
and  eloquently  defended,  by  some  of  the  most  eminent 
fathers  in  the  church.  How  much  more  time  would 
have  elapsed  before  the  condemnation,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  quarrel  that  broke  out  in  the  church  in  regard  to 
2 


14  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  Origenists,  we  know  not.  They  were  objected  to, 
at  first,  in  respect  to  other  points,  and  not  for  many 
years,  on  the  ground  of  their  being  Universalists,.  al- 
though some  of  their  most  eminent  men,  like  the  dis- 
tinguished Father  from  whom  they  took  their  name,  had 
held  that  sentiment,  and  defended  it  with  much  zeal. 

Let  it  be  observed,  also,  that  Universalism  was  not 
put  down,  by  reason,  by  argument,  by  appeals  to  the 
word  of  God,  but  it  was  crushed  by  the  arm  of  power. 
It  was  the  arm  of  usurped  power  that  crucified  the  Son 
of  God  ;  it  was  the  arm  of  usurped  power  that  perse- 
cuted the  infant  church  ;  and  it  was  the  arm  of  usurped 
power  that  condemned  and  crushed  Universalism,  in 
553.  During  the  dark  ages,  when  the  Pope  held  un* 
disturbed  dominion,  and  the  whole  Christian  world  trem- 
bled at  his  nod,  —  when  the  light  of  science  almost 
expired,  and  wickedness  of  every  description  stalked 
abroad  at  noonday,  then  little  was  known  of  Universal- 
ism  ;  while  the  contrary  doctrine  of  endless  misery 
flourished  abundantly,  and  furnished  ground  for  the  con- 
tending ecclesiastics  to  anathematize,  first,  each  other, 
and  then  the  world,  and  proclaim  the  sentence  of  eternal 
banishment  from  immortal  blessedness.  But  we  have 
shown,  that  no  sooner  was  the  arm-  of  usurped  power 
broken,  than  Universalism  once  more  appeared.  It  rose 
gently,  but  irresistibly,  winning  admirers  among  the 
greatest  and  best  of  men,  and  pouring  peace,  consola- 
tion, and  joy  into  every  heart.  Not  so  with  the  doc- 
trine of  endless  misery.  From  553,  the  nearer  we  ap- 
proach to  the  days  of  the  Saviour,  the  less  we  find  of 
that  doctrine  ;  and  it  was  not  fully  established  until  the 
Fifth  General  Council.  During  the  dark  ages,  very 
few  persons,  if  any,  doubted  the  truth  of  that  sentiment. 
It  was  one  of  the  strong  pillars  that  upheld  priestcraft, 
papal  corruption,  and  ecclesiastical  oppression.  But  no 
sooner  did  the  light  of  Reformation  shine,  than  this 
doctrine  was  disputed,  —  it  was  soon  declared  to  be 
unscriptural,  dishonorable  to  God,  injurious  to  man  ; 
and  from  that  time  to  the  present  it  has  been  losing 
more  and  more  its  power  over  the  human  mind. 


WHAT  DO  UMVERSALISTS  BELIEVE  ?  1 5 

We  refer  those,  who  wish  to  see  a  fuller  account  of 
Universalisrn  from  the  time  of  the  Reformation  to  the 
year  1830,  to  the  "Modern  History  of  Universalisrn," 
by  the  author  of  this  work. 


CHAPTER  II. 

WHAT  DO  UMVERSALISTS  BELIEVE  ? 

I.  THE  sentiment  by  which  Universalists  are  distin- 
guished, is  this  :  that  at  last  every  individual  of  the 
human  race  shall  become  holy  and  happy.     This  does 
not  comprise  the  whole  of  their  faith  ;  but  merely  that 
feature  of  it,  which  is  peculiar  to  them,  and  by  which 
they  are  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the  world. 

II.  Universalists  are  not  infidels.     It  is  sometimes 
very  indiscreetly  said,  that  Universalisrn  is  but  a  species 
of  infidelity  ;  that  Universalists  are  not  Christians,  and 
cannot  be  so  considered.     We  shall  have  no  lengthen- 
ed argument  on  this  point  ;  but  we  desire  one  question 
settled,  touching  this  matter.     If  the  doctrine  of  Jesus 
concerning  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  is  not  true,  how 
is  the  doctrine  of  Universalisrn  to  be  established  ?     It 
evidently  cannot  be.     If  the  doctrine    of  Jesus    con- 
cerning a  future  life  fails,   what  becomes  of  Univer- 
salisrn ?     It  is  gone  like  a  dream.     Why,  then,  should 
Universalism  be  called  infidelity  ?     If  it  cannot  rest 
unless  it  rest  on  Christianity,  is  it  not   a  very  singular 
kind  of  infidelity  ?     It  is  just  such  infidelity  as  Jesus 
taught,  when  he  said,  the  dead  shall  become  as  the  an- 
gels of  God  in  heaven,  neither  shall  they  die  any  more, 
but  shall  be  the  children  of  God,  being  the  children  of 
the  resurrection.     It  is  such  infidelity  as  Paul  cherish- 
ed, when  he  said,  "  God  will  have  all  men  to  be  sav- 
ed,"—  u  the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we 
shall  be  changed,"  u  God  shall  be  all  in  all  ;  "  such 


1 6  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

is  the  infidelity  of  Universalism.  It  is  the  infidelity 
the  angels  were  infected  with,  when  they  came  down 
and  sung,  u  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest ;  peace  on 
earth,  and  good  will  to  men."  It  is  just  such  infidelity 
as  distinguished  the  patriarch  Abraham,  when  he  trusted 
in  God's  promise,  that  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should 
be  blessed  in  his  seed,  Christ.  Finally,  it  is  the  same 
infidelity  that  made  the  apostles  so  obnoxious  wherever 
they  preached  ;  and  caused  the  people  to  say,  cc  those 
who  have  turned  the  world  upside  down,  are  come 
hither  also." 

III.  An  attempt  has  been  recently  made  to  distin- 
guish Universalists  only  by  a  disbelief  in  future  punish- 
ment. Such  an  attempt  is  unjustifiable.  They  agree 
in  the  great  doctrine  of  the  final  holiness  and  happiness 
of  all  men  ;  and  they  leave  every  man  to  form  his  own 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  times  and  seasons  when  this 
great  event  shall  transpire. 

There  has  been  some  discussion,  within  a*  few  years 
past,  on  the  appellation  Universalist.  The  question 
seems  to  have  been,  whether  this  word  ought  to  be  ap- 
plied to  all  who  believe  in  the  eventual  restoration  of 
all  mankind,  or  only  to  a  particular  class  of  them.  On 
this  subject  we  have  never  had  but  one  opinion,  and  that 
opinion  we  have  frequently  expressed,  viz.  that  all  per- 
sons, who  truly  believe  in  the  eventual  salvation  of  all 
mankind  by  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are 
Universalists.  This  is  the  rule  laid  down  in  the  "  Mod- 
ern History  of  Universalism."  For  instance,  Richard 
Coppin  and  Jeremy  White,  who  both  flourished  in  the 
time  of  Cromwell,  are  put  down  in  that  work  as  Uni- 
versalists, although  they  differed  much  in  opinion  on 
minor  points,  the  latter  being  a  Trinitarian  and  a  believ- 
er in  future  punishment,  the  former  discarding  that  doc- 
trine. So  also  Archbishop  Tillotson  and  Dr.  T.  Bur- 
net  are  put  down  as  Universalists,  who  were  both 
believers  in  future  punishment.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  the  Chevalier  Ramsay  and  many  others.  The  rule 
which  we  prescribed  to  ourselves  in  the  compilation  of 


WHAT  DO  UNIVERSALISTS  BELIEVE?  17 

that  work,  we  still  adhere  to,  and  always  shall.  Jill 
persons  are  Universalists  who  truly  believe  in  the  salva- 
tion of  all  mankind  through  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

It  makes  no  difference  what  are  the  individual's  views 
concerning  punishment,  if  he  holds  the  doctrine  above 
described.  There  are  some  Universalists  who  hold  to 
punishment  after  death  ;  nevertheless,  we  are  glad  to 
hail  them  as  Universalists.  They  agree  with  us  in  our 
views  of  the  great  consummation,  — all  punishment,  in 
their  view,  is  disciplinary' ;  and  they  denounce  punish- 
ment, either  in  this  world  or  the  next,  having  any  other 
object,  as  cruel  and  unjust.  Certain  persons  have  en- 
deavoured to  give  a  very  narrow  signification  to  the 
word  Universalist,  as  signifying  only  those  who  do  »not 
hold  to  punishment  beyond  the  grave  ;  bu£  they  have 
repeatedly  been  told,  by  Universalists  of  both  classes, 
that  such  a  restricted  sense  of  the  word  could  not  be 
admitted. 

We  wish  it  distinctly  understood,  that  Universalists 
admit  of  no  distinction  in  the  denomination,  on  account 
of  difference  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  punishment. 
They  are  all  one, —  they  all  go  for  one  thing  ;  and  may 
God  to  all  eternity  preserve  them  one.  Amen. 

IV.  Although  Universalists  do  not  believe  in  the  au- 
thority of  man-made  creeds,  it  became  necessary,  in 
the  year  1803,  for  them  to  make  a  public  declaration 
of  their  sentiments.  The  Supreme  Court  of  New 
Hampshire  had  decreed,  that  Congregationalists  and 
Universalists,  in  law,  were  one  and  the  same  denomin- 
ation ;  and  that  Universalists  were  therefore  liable  to 
be  taxed  to  the  support  of  Congregational  parishes. 
To  meet  this  extraordinary  state  of  things,  the  General 
Convention  of  Universalists,  in  session  at  StrafFord, 
Vt.,  in  1802,  appointed  a  committee  to  report  a  form 
of  faith,  to  show,  that  Universalists  differed  widely  from 
Congregationalists  in  their  religious  views.  This  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  Z.  Streeter,  G.  Richards,  H. 
Ballou,  W.  Ferriss,  and  Z.  Lathe,  reported  at  the  ses- 
2* 


18  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

sion  in  Winchester,  N.  H.,  the  following  year.  On 
this  committee  were  persons  who  believed  in  future 
punishment,  and  those  who  did  not ;  but  a  majority,  we 
think,  of  the  former.  They  endeavoured  to  frame  their 
articles  of  faith  in  such  a  way,  as  that  both  classes  of 
Universalists  might  cordially  unite  in  them.  The  arti- 
cles were  drawn  by  the  venerated  Ferriss,  himself  a  be- 
liever in  future  punishment,  and  were  in  the  following 
words  : 

PROFESSION  OF  BELIEF. 

"1.  We  believe,  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  contain  a  revelation  of  the 
character  of  God,  and  of  the  duty,  interest,  and  final 
destination  of  mankind. 

"2.  We  believe  there  is  one  God,  whose  nature  is 
love  ;  revealed  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  one  Holy 
Spirit  of  grace,  who  will  finally  restore  the  whole  fam- 
ily of  mankind  to  holiness  and  happiness. 

"  3.  We  believe,  that  holiness  and  true  happiness 
are  inseparably  connected  ;  and  that  believers  ought  to 
maintain  order,  and  practise  good  works,  for  these  things 
are  good  and  profitable  unto  men." 

This  Profession  of  Belief  the  Convention  has  never 
altered  ;  and  we  believe  it  is  considered  unexceptiona- 
ble by  Universalists  in  general. 

Such  then,  in  brief,  are  the  sentiments  of  Universal- 
ists. But,  lest  some  of  our  readers  should  object  to 
the  brevity  of  the  above  Profession,  we  shall  introduce 
in  this  place  a  form  of  faith,  designed  to  express  the 
general  sentiments  of  Universalists,  drawn  up  several 
years  since,  by  Rev.  Dolphus  Skinner,  of  Utica,  N.  Y., 
and  first  published  in  connexion  with  his  "  Letters  to 
Aikin  &  Lansing,"  Utica,  N.  Y.,  1833. 

BIBLE  CREED. 

ARTICLE  1.  Concerning  God  and  Christ.  We  be- 
lieve that  the  Lord  our  God  is  ONE  Lord,  —  that  we 
all  have  ONE  FATHER  ;  ONE  GOD  hath  created  us, — 


WHAT  DO  UNTVERSALISTS  BELIEVE  ?  19 

and  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men,  to 
dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth  ; — that  though  there 
be  that  are  called  gods,  whether  in  heaven  or  in  earth, 
(as  there  are  gods  many  and  lords  many,)  yet  to  us 
there  is  but  ONE  GOD,  THE  FATHER,  of  whom 
are  all  things,  and  we  in  him  ;  and  one  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  whom  are  all  things,  and  we  by  him,  (for 
God  hath  made  him  both  Lord  and  Christ,)  for  there  is 
one  God  and  one  mediator  between  God  and  men,  the 
man  Christ  Jesus,  who  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all, 
to  be  testified  in  due  time.  Deut.  vi.  4  ;  Mark  xii. 
29  ;  Mai.  ii.  10  ;  Acts  ii.  36,  and  xvii.  26  ;  1  Cor. 
viii.  5,  6  ;  1  Tim.  ii.  5,  6. 

ARTICLE  2.  Concerning  the  character  of  God.  We 
believe  the  Lord  our  God  is  the  Almighty,  and  of  great 
power,  —  that  his  understanding  (or  wisdom)  is  infi- 
nite,—that  he  is  love  itself,  —  good  unto  all,  and  his 
tender  mercies  over  all  his  works,  — that  he  loveth  all 
the  things  that  are,  and  abhorreth  nothing  that  his  hands 
have  made,  for  he  never  would  have  created  any  thing 
to  have  hated  it,  —  that  he  is  a  just  God  and  a  Saviour, 
—  who  will  have  all  men  to  be  saved  and  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  who  icorkcth  all  things  af- 
ter the  counsel  of  his  own  will,  —  that  in  him  mercy  and 
truth  are  met  together,  righteousness  and  peace  have  em- 
braced each  other.  Gen.  xvii.  1  ;  Ps.  cxlvii.  5,  and 
Ixxxv.  10,  and  cxlv.  9  ;  Isa.  xlv.  21  ;  1  Tim.  ii.  4  ; 
Eph.  i.  11  ;  1  John  iv.  8,  16. 

ARTICLE  3.  Concerning  the  mission  and  mediation 
of  Christ.  We  believe  God  sent  his  Son  to  be  the 
Saviour  of  the  world, — that  to  this  end,  (as  he  loved 
both  his  Son  and  the  world,)  he  gave  all  things  into  his 
hand,  even  power  over  all  flesh,  that  he  might  give 
eternal  life  to  as  many  as  the  Father  hath  given  him,  and 
that  all  that  the  Father  gave  him  shall  so  come  to  him  as 
not  to  be  cast  out, — that,  as  he  tasted  death  for  every 
man,  and  is  a  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world,  he  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul  and  be  satis- 
fied, -«*-that  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall 


20  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UN1VERSALISM. 

all  be  made  alive,  —  that,  having  brought  life  and  im- 
mortality to  light  by  the  Gospel,  he  shall  continue  to 
reign  until  death,  the  last  enemy,  is  destroyed,  and  all 
things  are  subdued  unto  him  ;  till  every  knee  shall  bow 
and  every  tongue  confess  him  Lord,  to  the  glory  of 
God  the  Father,  —  and,  that  then  he  will  deliver  up 
the  reconciled  kingdom  to  the  Father,  that  God  may  be 
all  in  all.  1  John  ii.  2,  and  iv.  14  ;  John  iii,  35  ;  vi.  37  ; 
xvii.  2  ;  Heb.  ii.  9  ;  Isa.  liii.  11  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  22, 
24-28  ;  2  Tim.  i.  10  ;  Phil.  ii.  10,  11. 

ARTICLE  4.  Concerning  the  motive  to  obedience, 
&c.  We  believe  it  is  our  duty  to  love  God,  because 
he  first  loved  us,  — that,  if  God  so  loved  us,  we  ought 
also  to  love  one  another,  —  that  the  goodness  of  God 
leadeth  to  repentance, — that  the  grace  of  God,  that 
bringeth  salvation  to  all  men,  hath  appeared,  teaching 
us,  that,  denying  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  we 
should  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in  this  pres- 
ent world,  and  that  those  who  believe  in  God  ought  to 
be  careful  to  maintain  good  works  ;  for  these  things  are 
good  and  profitable  unto  MEN.  1  John  iv.  11,  19  ; 
Rom.  ii.  4  ;  Titus  ii.  11,  12,  and  iii.  8. 

ARTICLE  5.  Concerning  the  reward  of  obedience. 
We  believe,  that  great  peace  have  they  who  love  God's 
law,  and  nothing  shall  offend  them,  —  they  are  like  trees 
planted  by  the  rivers  of  water,  that  bring  forth  their 
fruit  in  season  ;  their  leaf,  also,  shall  not  wither  ;  and, 
whatsoever  they  do  shall  prosper,  —  that  wisdom's 
ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  are 
peace,  —  that  she  is  a  tree  of  life  to  them  that  lay  hold 
of  her,  and  happy  is  every  one  that  retaineth  her,  — 
that  Christ's  yoke  is  easy  and  his  burden  is  light,  and 
all  who  come  to  him  find  rest  to  their  souls,  —  that  we 
which  have  believed  do  enter  into  rest, — that,  though 
God  is  the  Saviour  of  all  men,  he  is  especially  so  of 
the  believer,  —  and,  that  whoso  looketh  into  the  perfect 
law  of  liberty,  and  continueth  therein,  and  is  not  a  for- 
getful hearer,  but  a  doer  of  the  work,  this  man  shall  be 
blessed  in  his  deed.  Ps.  i.  3,  and  cxix.  166  ;  Prov. 


WHAT  DO  UNTVERSALISTS  BELIEVE  ?  21 

Hi.  17,  18;    Matt.  xi.  28-30  ;    Heb.  Hi.  3  ;    1    Tim. 
iv.  10  ;  James  i.  25. 

ARTICLE  6.  Concerning  punishment  for  disobedi- 
ence. We  believe  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is 
hard, — that  the  wicked  are  like  the  troubled  sea  when 
it  cannot  rest,  whose  waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt,  for 
there  is  no  peace,  saith  our  God,  to  the  wicked,  —  that 
he  that  doeth  wrong,  shall  receive  for  the  wrong  which 
he  hath  done,  and  there  is  no  respect  of  persons,  — 
that  God  will  render  to  every  man  according  to  his 
deeds,  —  tribulation  and  anguish  upon  every  soul  of 
man  that  doeth  evil,  of  the  Jew  first,  and  also  of  the 
Gentile.  Prov.  xiii.  15  ;  Isa.  Ivii.  20,  21  ;  Malt.  xvi. 
27  ;  Rom.  ii.  6,  9  ;  Col.  iii.  25. 

ARTICLE  7.  Concerning  the  limitation  and  reme- 
dial design  of  punishment.  We  believe  the  Lord  will 
not  cast  off  forever  ;  but,  though  he  cause  grief,  yet? 
will  he  have  compassion  according  to  the  multitude  of 
his  mercies,  —  that  he  will  not  contend  forever,  nor  be 
always  wroth,  lest  the  spirit  should  fail  before  him,  and 
the  souls  he  has  made,  —  that,  although  he  may  appa- 
rently forsake  his  children  for  a  small  moment,  yet 
with  great  mercies  will  he  gather  them, — in  a  little 
wrath,  he  may  hide  his  face  from  them  for  a  small  mo- 
ment, but  with  everlasting  kindness  will  he  have  mercy 
on  them,  and  heal  them,  and  lead  them  also,  and  re- 
store comforts  unto  them,  —  that  whom  he  loveth  he 
chasteneth,  (and  he  loveth  and  chasteneth  all,)  for  their 
profit,  that  they  may  be  partakers  of  his  holiness,  and 
be  enabled  afterwards  to  say,  "before  I  was  afflicted  I 
went  astray,  but  now  have  I  kept  thy  word."  Lam. 
iii.  31,  32  ;  Isa.  liv.  7,  8,  and  Ivii.  16-18  ;  Heb.  xii. 
7-11  ;  Psalm  Ixxxix.  30-35,  and  cxix.  67. 

ARTICLE  8.  Concerning  the  Scriptures,  the  doc- 
trines they  teach,  and  the  duties  they  enjoin.  We  be- 
lieve, that  all  Scripture,  given  by  inspiration  of  God, 
is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction, 
and  instruction  in  righteousness,  —  that  the  prophecy 
came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of  man  ;  but  holy  men 


22  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UISIVERSAL1SM. 

of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
— that  God  hath  spoken  of  the  restitution  of  all  things 
by  the  mouth  of  all  his  holy  prophets  since  the  world 
began,  —  that  .the  word,  gone  out  of  his  mouth  in 
righteousness,  shall  not  return  void,  but  shall  accom- 
plish that  which  he  pleases,  insomuch,  that  every  knee 
shall  bow,  and  every  tongue  shall  swear,  saying,  In  the 
Lord  have  I  righteousness  and  strength.  From  the 
Scriptures,  (which  we  take  as  the  rule  and  guide  of 
our  faith  and  practice,)  we  are  taught,  that  the  whole 
duty  of  man  is,  to  fear  God  and  keep  his  command- 
ments ;  to  deal  justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly 
with  God  ;  to  do  good  to  all  men  as  we  have  opportu- 
nity ;  and  that  pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  God 
and  the  Father,  is  this  ;  to  visit  the  fatherless  and 
widows  in  their  affliction,  and  keep  ourselves  uncor- 
rupted  from  the  world.  2  Tim.  iii.  16  ;  2  Peter  i. 
21  ;  Acts  iii.  21  ;  Isa.  xlv.  23,  24  ;  Iv.  11  ;  Micah 
vi.  8  ;  Eccl.  xii.  13;  Gal.  vi.  10  ;  James  i.  27. 

We  presume,  that  Universalists,  in  general,  will  agree 
to  the  doctrines  here  specified.  They  are  all  evidently 
drawn  from  the  oracles  of  God  ;  and  the  references, 
made  at  the  end  of  each  article,  fully  sustain  the  posi- 
tions advanced  in  each. 

But  still,  we  desire  that  it  should  be  remembered, 
that  the  distinguishing  feature  of  their  faith,  is  THE 

EVENTUAL    HOLINESS  AND    HAPPINESS    OF    ALL    MEN. 

God  hath  willed  the  salvation  of  all  men  ;  and  hath 
sent  his  Son  to  accomplish  the  transcendently  great  and 
glorious  work.  He  hath  made  a  full  revelation  of  him- 
self, and  of  the  mission  of  his  Son,  and  of  his  purpose 
to  save  all  mankind,  in  his  divine  word,  the  true  sense 
of  which  Universalists  implicitly  follow.  The  glory 
of  God,  and  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  as  manifested  in 
the  final  holiness  and  happiness  of  all  men,  is  the  cen- 
tral sun  of  Universalism.  This,  with  them,  is  the 
all-absorbing  topic  ;  the  crowning  excellence  of  re- 
vealed religion  ;  the  richest  glory  of  God  ;  the  highest 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.          23 

honor  of  Christ  ;  the  fullest  joy  of  the  saints  ;  the 
sweetest  answer  to  prayer  ;  the  strongest  motive  to 
praise  ;  the  most  potent  charm  of  Christian  faith  ;  a 
fountain  of  consolation  in  life  ;  a  holy  triumph  in  death  ; 
the  joy  of  angels,  and  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect.  Such  is  the  doctrine  of  the  ULTIMATE  SAL- 
VATION OF  ALL  THE  HUMAN  RACE. 


CHAPTER  III. 

WHAT  EVIDENCES  DO  UNIVERSALISTS  ADDUCE  FROM  THE 
SCRIPTURES  IN  SUPPORT  OF  THEIR  BELIEF  IN  THE 
EVENTUAL  HOLINESS  AND  HAPPINESS  OF  ALL  MEN  ? 

WE  arrange  the  Scriptural  evidences  of  Universal- 
ism,  under  the  following  heads  : 

GOD  THE  CREATOR  OF  MEN. 

1.  God  is  the  Creator  of  all  men.  "  He  hath  made 
of  one  blood,  all  nations  of  men,  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth."  Acts  xvii.  26.  He  would  not 
have  created  intelligent  beings,  had  he  known  they 
were  to  be  forever  miserable.  To  suppose  that  God 
would  bring  beings  into  existence  who  he  knew  would 
be  infinite  losers  by  that  existence,  is  to  charge  him 
with  the  utmost  malignity.  The  existence  itself  would 
not  be  a  blessing,  but  a  curse  ;  the  greatness  of  which 
cannot  be  described.  A  poor  soul,  sentenced  to  end- 
less damnation,  might  well  cry,  in  the  touching  language 
of  Young  ; 

"  Father  of  Mercies,  why  from  silent  earth, 
Didst  Thou  awake,  and  curse  me  into  birth  ? 
Tear  me  from  quiet,  ravish  me  from  night, 
And  make  a  thankless  present  of  thy  light ; 
Push  into  being  a  reverse  of  Thee, 
And  animate  a  clod  with  misery  ?  " 

As  God  is  infinite  in  knowledge,  and  as  he  sees  the 
end  from  the  beginning,  he  must  have  known  before 
the  creation,  the  result  of  the  existence  he  was  about 


24  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

to  confer,  and  whether,  upon  the  whole,  it  would  be  a 
blessing  ;  and,  as  he  was  not  under  any  necessity  to 
create  man,  being  also  infinitely  benevolent,  he  could 
not  have  conferred  an  existence  that  he  knew  would 
end  in  the  worst  possible  consequences  to  his  creatures. 

GOD  THE  FATHER  OF  MEN. 

2.  God  is  the  Father  of  all  men.     "Have  we  not 
all  one  Father  ?     Hath  not  one  God  created  us  ?  " 
Mai.  ii.  10.     A  kind  Father  will  not  punish  his  chil- 
dren but  for  their  good.     God  is  evidently  called  the 
Father  of  all  men  in  the  Scriptures,  and  this  is  not  an 
unmeaning    name ;    he  has  the    disposition   and    prin- 
ciples of  a  Father.     He  loves  with  a  Father's  love  ; 
he  watches  with  a  Father's  care  ;  he  reproves  with  a 
Father's  tenderness  ;  he  punishes  with  a  Father's  de- 
sign.    God  is  the  Father  of  all  men  ;  and,  therefore, 
he  cannot  make  mankind  endlessly  miserable. 

GOD  THE  LORD,  OR  OWNER  OF  MEN. 

3.  All  men,  of  right,  belong  to  God.     u  Behold,  all 
souls  are  mine,"  saith  the  Lord      "  As  the  soul  of  the 
father,  so  also  the  soul  of  the  son  is  mine."  Ezek.  xviii. 
4.     God  will  not  give  up  what  belongeth  to  him,  to  the 
dominion    of    sin    and    Satan   forever.      All  men  are 
God's  by  creation  ;  he  made  them  all.     They  are  his 
by  preservation  ;  he  sustains  them  all.      They  were  his 
at  first,  and  they  always  have   remained   in  his   care. 
"  The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness  thereof ;  the 
world,  and  they  that  dwell  therein."     That  God,  who 
says  to  men,  "If  any  provide  not  for  his  own,  and 
specially  for  those  of  his  own   house,  he  hath  denied 
the  faith  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel,"  can  never  aban- 
don his  own  creatures.     He  will  ever  exercise  a  gra- 
cious care  over  them,  as  will  be  more  fully  seen  in  the 
following  reasons. 

ALL  MEN  COMMITTED  TO  CHRIST'S  CARE. 

4.  God  hath  given  all  things  to  Christ,  as  the  moral 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.         25 

Ruler  of  the  world.  u  Ask  of  me,  and  I  will  give 
thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession."  Psalms  ii.  8. 
"  The  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  hath  given  all  things 
into  his  hand."  John  iii.  35.  "  All  things,"  here, 
means  all  intelligent  beings.  So  say  the  best  commen- 
tators. 

5.  God  gave  all  beings  to  Christ  that  he  might  save 
them.     "  Thou  hast  given  him  power  over  all  flesh, 
that  he  should  give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  thou  hast 
given   him."      John   xvii.   2.     This  plainly    evinces, 
that  it  was  God's   design,  in  giving   Christ    dominion 
over  all  flesh,  that  they  should  all  enjoy  eternal  life. 

6.  It  is  certain  that  Christ  will   save   all  that   the 
Father  hath  given  him.     u  All  that  the  Father  giveth 
me,  shall  come  to  me,  and  him  that  cometh  to  me  I  will 
in  nowise    cast   out."      John  vi.    37.      These  three 
propositions  are  irrefragable  evidence  of  the  final  hap- 
piness of  all  men.      1st.   God  hath  given  all  things  to 
Christ.      2d.    All   that   God   hath    given    him    shall 
come  to  him  ;  and,    3d.  him  that  cometh  he  will  in 
nowise  cast  out.     All  are  given  ;  all  shall  come ;  and 
none  shall  be  cast  out.     What  is  the  unavoidable  con- 
clusion ? 

THE  WILL  OF  GOD. 

7.  It  is  THE  WILL  of   God  that  all  men  shall  be 
saved.     "  Who   will   have  all  men  to  be  saved,  and 
come  unto  the  knowledge  of  the  truth."    1  Tim.  ii.  4. 
By  "  all  men,"  in  this  passage,  is  undoubtedly  to  be 
understood    all   the   human   race.      Salvation    comes 
through  the  belief  of  the   truth.     God   wills   that   all 
men  should  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and 
be  saved  thereby. 

8.  God  inspires  the  hearts  of  the  good  to  pray  for 
the  salvation  of  all  men,  and  say,  as  Jesus  said,  u  Thy 
will   be   done."     Matt.  vi.  10.     Adam   Clarke   says, 
"  Because  he  wills  the  salvation  of  all  men,  therefore 
he  wills  that  all  men  should   be  prayed   for  ;  "  as  in 

3 


26  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNI  VERBAL  FSM. 

1  Tim.  ii.  1.  "I  exhort,  therefore,  that,  first  of  all, 
supplications,  prayers,  intercessions,  and  giving  of 
thanks  be  made  for  all  men."  Would  God  inspire  the 
hearts  of  his  saints  to  pray  for  the  salvation  of  all  man- 
kind, if  he  knew  they  would  not  all  be  saved  ? 

9.  Jesus  came  to  do  the  will  of  God.     "  My  meat 
is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me,  and  to  finish  his 
work."     John  iv.  34.     "  Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  will, 
O  God."     Heb.  x.  9.     The  will  of  God   is,  that  all 
men  shall  be  saved.     This  is  his  will,  by  way  of  dis- 
tinction and  preeminence.     Jesus  came  to  do  this  will. 
He  came  as  the  Saviour,  as  the  Saviour  of  all  men. 
He  came  as  the  good  Shepherd,  to  seek  and  save  that 
which  was  lost.     He  came  to  save   all  men,  not  only 
those  who  lived  on  the  earth  while  he  was  here,  but  all 
who  lived  before,  and  all  who  have  since  lived,  and  all 
who  shall  live.     Jesus  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all  ; 
he  tasted  death  for  every  man  ;  and  unto  him,  at  last, 
every  knee  shall  bow,  and  every  tongue  shall  confess 
him  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.     Such  is 
the  way  in  which  Jesus  does  the  will  of  God. 

10.  The   will  of  God   cannot   be   resisted.     "  He 
doeth  according  to  his  will  in  the  army  of  heaven,  and 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  ;  and  none  can  stay 
his  hand,  or  say  unto  him,  What  doest  thou  ?  "  Dan. 
iv.  35.     Who  can  resist  a  being  of  Almighty  power  ? 
What  God  wills  to  take  place,  must  take  place.     He 
wills  the    salvation  of  all  men  because  it  is  right.     A 
God  of  purity  cannot  desire  endless  sin  and  rebellion. 
If  he  wills  the    salvation  of  all  men,  he  wills   all  the 
means   by   which   it   shall   be   accomplished  ;  it  must 
therefore  take  place. 

1 1 .  God  has  no  other  will  besides  the  will  to  save 
all  men.     "  He  is  in  one  mind,   and  who   can.,  turn 
him."     Job.  xxiii.  13. 

THE  NATURE  OF  GOD. 

12.  God  is  love,  and  love  worketh  no  ill.     u  God  is 
love."     1  John  iv.  8.     "  Love  worketh  no  ill."  Rom. 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.          27 

xiii.  10.  This  is  a  very  forcible  argument.  God's 
nature  is  the  very  essence  of  benevolence,  and  benevo- 
lence cannot  be  the  origin  of  endless  evil.  If  love 
worketh  no  ill,  God  can  work  no  ill ;  and,  therefore, 
God  cannot  be  the  author  of  endless  evil. 

13.  God  loves  all  mankind.     "  For  God  so  loved 
the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten   Son."    John 
iii.  16  ;  and,  as  Jesus  died  for  all  men,  so  God  loves 
all  men.     This  argument  adds  great  force  to  the  last. 

14.  God  loves  even  his  enemies.     For  he  requires 
men  to  love  their  enemies,  which  he  could  not  do  if  he 
hated  his.     (Matt.  v.  44.)     And  Jesus  declared,  "  for 
he  is  kind  unto  the  unthankful  and  to  the  evil."     Luke 
vi.  35.     This  is  but  an  amplification  of  the  preceding 
argument.     If    God   loves  his    enemies,    he    certainly 
loves  all  men  ;  for  no  one   doubts  that  he    loves  his 
friends.     And  can  God   cause  those  to  be  endlessly 
miserable  whom  he  loves  ? 

THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

15.  God  is  wise;  and  it  cannot  be  a  dictate  of  wis- 
dom to  create  beings,  and  then  make  their  existence  a 
curse  by  entailing  endless  suffering  to  it.     God  foresaw 
all  the  consequences   of  our  creation   when  he  made 
us.     He  knew  fully  what  the   result  would  be  to  each 
individual.     Is  it  possible,  that  infinite  goodness  could 
breathe  life  into  unoffending   dust,  when  it  was  clearly 
foreseen  that  endless  evil  would  ensue  ?  It  was  not  pos- 
sible.    God  must  have  created  only  to  bless.     "  Love 
worketh  no  ill." 

16.  The  wisdom  of  God  is  u  full  of  mercy,"  and 
1 '  without  partiality."     James  iii.  17.     u  Full  of  mer- 
cy," says   Adam   Clarke,  i.  e.   "  ready  to   pass  by  a 
transgression,  and  to  grant  forgiveness  to  those  who  of- 
fend ;    and   PERFORMING    EVERY  POSSIBLE    ACT  OF 
KINDNESS."     Surely,  a  God  of  infinite   power   and 
skill,  who  "  performs  every  possible  act  of  kindness," 
will  save  his  fallen  creatures  from  their  sins.     "  With- 
out partiality,"  i.  e.  without  making  a  difference.    God 


28  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNI  VERBALISM. 

is  no  respecter  of  persons.  He  is  kind  to  all  men  ; 
and  he  will  perform  every  u  possible  act  of  kindness  " 
to  all  men. 

THE  PLEASURE  OF  GOD. 

17.  The  pleasure  of  God  is  in  favor  of  the  salvation 
of  all  men  ;  and,  therefore,  neither  death,  sin,  nor  pain, 
can  be  the  ultimate  object  of  God  in  reference  to  man. 
u  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  have  no  pleasure  in 
the  death  of  the  wicked."     Ezek.  xxxiii.  11.     Death, 
and  sin,  and  pain,  may  exist  for  a  time  ;  but  if  God 
have  no  pleasure  in  them  of  themselves,  they  are  not 
the  end  at  which  he  aims,  but  the  means  by  which  he 
accomplishes  that  end.      The  end  in  which  God  rests 
as  his  pleasure,  design,  or  purpose,  must  be  essentially 
benevolent,  because  he  is  essentially  a  benevolent  God. 
Neither   death,  nor  sin,  nor  pain,  can  be  his  ultimate 
plan  or  pleasure  ;  they  are  the  means  by  which  his  holy 
and  righteous  designs  are  carried  into  effect.  ' 

18.  God  created  all  men  expressly  for  his  pleasure, 
and,  therefore,  not  for  ultimate   death.      "  Thou  hast 
created  all  things,  and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are  and 
were  created."  Rev.  iv.  11.     Adam  Clarke  has  a  fine 
remark  on   this   passage.      He  says,    a  He   made  all 
things  for  his   pleasure  ;  and  through  the  same  motive 
he    preserves.      Hence,  it  is   most   evident,    that   he 
hateth   nothing  that    he    has   made  ;    and   could    have 
made  no  intelligent  creature  with  the  design  to  make  it 
eternally  miserable.     It  is  strange,  that  a  contrary  sup- 
position has  ever  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  ;  and  it 
is  high  time  that  the  benevolent  nature  of  the  Supreme 
God,  should  be  fully  vindicated  from  aspersions  of  this 
kind." 

19.  The  pleasure  of  God  shall  prosper  in  the  hand 
of  Christ.      "  The  pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper 
in  his  hand."     Isaiah  liii.  10.     Clarke  says,  on  Isaiah 
liii.  10,  that  the  pleasure  of  God  is,  u  to  have  all  men 
saved,  and   brought   to  the    knowledge  of  the  truth." 
Compare  this  with  the  20th  section. 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.         29 

20.  God's  pleasure  shall  surely  be    accomplished. 
11  So    shall  my  word   be  that  goeth  forth  out  of   my 
mouth  ;  it  shall  not  return  unto  me  void  ;  but  it  shall 
accomplish  that  which  I  please,  and  it  shall  prosper  in 
the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it."     Isaiah  Iv.  11.      u  I  will 
do  all  my  pleasure."  xlvi.  10.     Does  not  this  passage 
show  that  God's  PLEASURE  shall  certainly  be  accom- 
plished ?     His  word  shall  not  return  unto  him  void  :   it 
shall  accomplish  what  he  please,  and  prosper  in  the  ob- 
ject which  he  sent  it  to  accomplish.    God  has  no  pleas- 
ure in  the  death  or  suffering  of  the  sinner.     That  was 
not  the  object  of  creation.     God  created  men  for  his 
pleasure,  and  his   pleasure    shall   certainly   be  accom- 
plished. 

THE  PURPOSE  OF  GOD. 

21.  God  hath  purposed   the    salvation  of  all  men. 
"  Having  made  known  unto  us  the  mystery  of  his  will, 
according  to  his  good  pleasure,  which  he  hath  purposed 
in  himself,  that  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times, 
he  might  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both 
which  are  in  heaven,  and  which  are  on  earth,  even  in 
him."    Eph.  i.  9,  10.     It  is  evident  from  this  passage, 
that  God  hath  purposed  to  gather  together  all  things  in 
Christ.    God's  purpose  agrees  with  his  will  or  pleasure. 
He  wills  to  have  all  men  saved  ;  he  has  no  pleasure  in 
the  death  of  the  wicked  ;  and  accordingly  he  hath  pur- 
posed to  gather  together  in  one,  all   things,  in  Christ, 
both  which   are   in   heaven,  and  which   are  on  earth. 
This  is  God's  purpose  ;  this  is  what  he  hath  purposed  in 
himself.     And  this  is  not  the  gathering   together  of 
those  things  only  which  are  in  Christ,  but  the  gathering 
together  of  all  things  in  him.     "  Unto  him  shall  the 
gathering  of  the  people  be."     Gen.  xlix.   10.     And 
Jesus  confirms  this  :  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from 
the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me."  John  xii.  32. 
Thus  we  see  all  things  are  to  be  gathered   into  Christ. 
They  are  all  to  have  his  spirit,  and  partake  of  his  new 
creation ;     for  "  if  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new 

3* 


30  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

creature  :  old  things  are  passed  away  :  behold  all  things 
are  become  new."  2  Cor.  v.  17.  By  the  phrase 
"  all  things,"  as  Archbishop  Newcome  says,  is  meant, 
"  all  persons,  all  intelligent  beings.  See  the  neuter 
for  the  masculine,  John  vi.  37,  39."  See  more  on 
this  subject  under  the  78th  section. 

22.  The  purpose  of  God  cannot  fail  :  it  must  cer- 
tainly be  accomplished.     "  The   Lord  of  hosts   hath 
sworn,  saying,   surely  as  I  have  thought,  so    shall    it 
come  to  pass  ;  and  as   I  have    purposed,   so   shall   it 
stand."     Isaiah  xiv.  24.     "  For  the    Lord    of  hosts 
hath  purposed,  and  who  shall  disannul  it  ?  and  his  hand 
is  stretched  out,  and   who  shall  turn  it  back  ?  "     27. 
"I  have  purposed  it,   I  will   also  do  it."     xlvi.  11. 
Now,  whatever  God  purposes  must  take  place.     God 
can  have  no  second  thoughts  ;  he  cannot  see  reason  to 
change  his  own  plans.     He  has  the  power  to  work  all 
things  according   to  his  purpose  ;  hence,  Paul  speaks 
of  "the  purpose  of  him  who  worketh  all  things  accord- 
ing to  the  counsel  [i.  e.  the   previous  consultations  or 
deliberations]  of  his  own  will."     Eph.  i.  11.     What, 
then,  shall  hinder  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose  ? 
Has  God  designed  a  work  which  he  cannot  do  ?     Has 
he  formed  a  plan  which  he  cannot  execute  ?     No  ;  the 
concurrent    testimony  of   the    sacred   writers    is,   that 
whatever  God  has  purposed,  SHALL  BE  DONE.     So  let 
it  be,  O  Lord. 

THE  PROMISES  OF  GOD. 

23.  God  promised  to  Abraham,  his  servant,  that  he 
would  bless  all  mankind,  in  his  seed.     "  In  thee  shall 
all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed."     Gen.  xii.  3. 
u  In  thy  seed    shall   all   the  nations  of  the  earth  be 
blessed."     xxii.  18.     All  the  nations  of  the  earth,  all 
the  families  of  the  earth,  according  to  this  promise,  are 
to  be  blessed  in  the  seed  of  Abraham.      The  language 
is  absolute:  it  is  without   any   condition.     "  Jill   the 
nations  of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed."    And  who  is  this 
u  seed  of  Abraham,"  in  whom   all   the   nations  and 

I  ol^ 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.  31 

families  of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed  ?  I  agree  with 
Dr.  Adam  Clarke  on  this  matter.  He  says,  in  his 
note  on  Gen.  xii.  3,  u  In  thy  posterity,  in  the  Messiah, 
who  shall  spring  from  thee,  shall  all  families  of  the 
earth  be  blessed  ;  for  as  he  shall  take  on  him  human 
nature,  from  the  posterity  of  Abraham,  he  shall  taste 
death  for  every  man  ;  his  gospel  shall  be  preached 
throughout  the  world,  and  innumerable  blessings  be  de- 
rived on  all  mankind,  through  his  death  and  interces- 
sion." 

24.  God  made  the  same  promise  to  Isaac.     u  I  will 
perform   the   oath  which  I   sware   unto   Abraham  thy 
lather,   and  I  will  make   thy  seed  to  multiply  as  the 
stars  of  heaven,  and  will  give  unto  thy  seed  all  these 
countries  ;  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  be  blessed."     Gen.  xxvi.  3,  4.      This  passage  is 
precisely  of  the  same  import  with  those  quoted  under 
section  23.     It  refers  to  precisely  the  same  subject, 
and  asserts  the  same  facts.    We  repeat  it  here,  because 
God  saw  fit  to  repeat  the  same  promise  to  Isaac  which 
he  had  made  to  his  father  Abraham  ;  and  it  forms  a 
distinct  argument  of  itself. 

25.  The  same  promise  was  repeated  to  Jacob,  the 
grandson    of   Abraham.      u  And   in   thee,   and  in  thy 
seed,   shall   all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 
Gen.  xxviii.   14.     The  apostle  Paul  (and  higher  au- 
thority we  dov  not  wish)   fully  settles   the  question  in 
regard  to  who  is  meant  by  the  "  seed  of  Abraham." 
He  says,  "Now  to  Abraham  and  his  seed,  were  the 
promises  made.     He   saith  not,  and  to  seeds,  as  of 
many  ;   but  as  of  one,   and  to  thy   seed,  WHICH   is 
CHRIST."     Gal.  iii.  16.     Christ,  then,  is  the  seed  of 
Abraham  ;  and  in  him  ALL  the  nations  and  families  of 
the  earth  shall  be  blessed. 

26.  Peter,  the  apostle,  understood  this  promise  as 
referring  to  the  salvation  of  men  from  sin,  by  Jesus 
Christ.     cc  Ye  are  the  children  of  the  prophets,  and  of 
the  covenant  which  God  made  with  our  fathers,  saying 
unto  Abraham,  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  kindreds 


32  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

of  the  earth  be  blessed.  Unto  you  first,  God,  having 
raised  up  his  son  Jesus,  sent  him  to  bless  you,  in  turn- 
ing away  every  one  of  you  from  his  iniquities."  Acts 
Hi.  25,  26.  Here  we  have  a  third  term,  —  kindreds. 
All  nations  of  the  earth,  all  families  of  the  earth,  and 
all  kindreds  of  the  earth,  must  certainly  signify  all  man- 
kind. The  import  of  this  absolute,  unconditional 
promise  is,  they  shall  all  be  blessed  in  Christ  Jesus. 

27.  The  apostle  Paul  repeats  this  promise,  and  calls 
it  THE  GOSPEL.     "And  the  Scripture,  foreseeing  that 
God  would  justify  the  heathen  through  faith,  preached 
before  the  gospel  unto  Abraham,  saying,  in  thee  shall 
all  nations  be  blessed."     Gal.  iii.  8.     This  is  a  further 
confirmation,    that  the  blessing  promised  men   in  the 
seed  of  Abraham,  is  a  spiritual,  gospel  blessing. 

28.  There  is  no  threatening  of  any  kind  whatsoever 
in  the  Scriptures,  no  law,  no  penalty,  no  punishment 
denounced,  which  when    rightly  understood    does  not 
harmonize  with  this  promise,  for  the  law  is  not  against 
the  promises  of  God.     "  Is  the  law,  then,  against  the 
promises  of  God  ?     God  forbid."     Gal.  iii.  21.    The 
law  mentioned  in  this  verse  was  undoubtedly  the  law 
given  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai.     God  was  specially 
careful  to  frame  that  law  in  such  a  manner,  that  not  a 
single  sentence  or  particle  of  it  should  contradict  the 
promises  made  by  him  to  Abraham.   What  those  prom- 
ises were,  we  have  seen.     It  is  equally  true,  that  not  a 
single  threatening  of  punishment  for  sin,  or  for  unbe- 
lief, not  a  denunciation  of  hell-fire,  or  condemnation  of 
any  kind  for  sin,  is  opposed  to  the  promises  of  God. 
Now  as  those  promises  most  explicitly  assert,  the  final 
blessing  of  all  the  nations,  kindreds,  and  families  of 
the  earth  with  salvation  from  sin  in  Jesus  Christ,  so  no 
portion  of  God's  law,  no  threatening  of  punishment, 
should  be  so  construed,  interpreted,  or  explained,  as  to 
contradict  this  ;  and  as  the  doctrine  of  endless  condem- 
nation for  sin  does  explicitly  contradict  those  promises, 
that  doctrine  we  may  be  sure  is  not  revealed   in  any 
portion  of  God's  word. 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSAL1SM.          33 


THE  OATH  OF  GOD. 

29.  God  hath  confirmed    his  promise   by  an  oath. 
See   Gen.   xxii.    16—18.     Heb.    vi.    13.     But   the 
most   striking    passage,    perhaps,    is    this, — UI   have 
sworn  by  myself,  the  word  is  gone  out  of  my  mouth  in 
righteousness,  and  shall  not  return,  that  unto  me  every 
knee  shall  bow,  every  tongue  shall  swear,  surely  shall 
say,*  in  the  Lord  have  I  righteousness  and  strength." 
Isaiah  xlv.  23,  24.   I  think  the  words  of  Adam  Clarke 
on  the  oath  of  God,  are  worthy  of  the  deepest  consid- 
eration.    On  the  words  of  God,   "he  sware  by  him- 
self," Clarke  remarks,  "  He  pledged  his  eternal  power 
and  Godhead  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  ;  there 
was  no  being  superior  to  himself,  to  whom  he  could 
make  appeal,  or  by  whom  he  could  be  bound  ;  there- 
fore he  appeals  to  and  pledges  his  immutable  truth  and 
godhead."     Com.  on  Heb.  vi.   13.     And   again,  the 
same  commentator  remarks,  "  The  promise  pledged  his 
faithfulness  and  justice  ;  the  oath  all  the  infinite  perfec- 
tions of  his  godhead  ;  for  he  sware  by  .himself.     There 
is  a  good  saying  in  Beracoth,  on  Exodus  xxxii.    13. 
Remember  Jlbraham,  Isaac,  and  Israel,  thy  servants, 
to  whom  thou  swearedst  by  thine  own  self.     What  is  the 
meaning  of  by  thine  own  self  ?    Rab  Eleazar  answered, 
thus  said  Moses  to  the  holy  blessed  God,  Lord  of  all 
the  world,  If  thou  hadst  sworn  to  them  by  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  then  I  should  have  said,  as  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  shall  pass  away,  so  may  thy  oath  pass 
away.     But  now  thou  hast  sworn  unto    them    by  thy 
great  Name,  which  liveth  and  which  endureth  forever, 
and  forever,  and  ever  ;  therefore  thy  oath  shall  endure 
forever  and  forever  and  ever."     Com.  on  Heb.  vi.  18. 

THE  POWER  OF  GOD. 

30.  God  is  almighty  ;    nothing  can  resist  his  will  ; 

*  I  have  here  omitted  the  word  one,  supplied  by  the  translators,  as 
it  evidently  annihilates  the  whole  sense  of  the  passage,  which  is 
clear  and  beautiful  without  it. 


34  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

nothing  can  defeat  his  purpose  ;  nothing  can  prevent 
the  fulfilment  of  his  promise.  "  What  he  had  promised 
he  was  able  also  to  perform."  Rom.  iv.  21.  If  God 
were  not  almighty,  then  the  world  might  not  be  saved  ; 
but  he  is  almighty  ;  "none  can  stay  his  hand,  or  say 
unto  him,  what  doest  thou  ?  "  and  therefore,  in  God's 
own  time  (and  that  is  the  best  time) ,  and  by  his  own 
means,  the  whole  world  shall  be  saved. 

THE  DEATH  OF  CHRIST. 

31.  Because  God  not  only  wills  the  salvation  of  all 
men  ;  not  only  hath  purposed  to  save  them  all  ;  not 
only  hath  promised  it ;  not  only  hath  confirmed  that 
promise  by  an  OATH  ;  but  also  hath  provided  the  means, 
in  the  death  of  Christ,  for  the  salvation  of  all  men. 
Jesus  died  for  all.  "  He  gave  himself  a  ransom  for 
all,  to  be  testified  in  due  time."  1  Tim.  ii.  6.  "  But 
we  see  Jesus,  who  was  made  a  little  lower  than  the 
angels,  for  the  suffering  of  death,  crowned  with  glory 
and  honor ;  that  he,  by  the  grace  of  God,  should  taste 
death  for  every  man."  Heb.  ii.  9.  u  And  he  is  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins  ;  and  not  for  ours  only,  but 
also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world."  1  John  ii.  2. 
Here  are  three  expressions  :  1st,  "  ALL  ; "  2d,  "  EVERY 
MAN  ;  "  3d,  "  THE  WHOLE  WORLD."  It  seems  as 
though  the  sacred  writers  took  the  utmost  care  to  guard 
against  being  misunderstood  in  this  important  particu- 
lar. Some  would  have  us  believe  (see  Prof.  Stuart's 
Com.  on  Heb.  ii.  9,)  that  these  expressions  are  to  be 
understood  only  in  a  general  sense,  in  opposition  to  the 
contracted  opinions  of  the  Jews,  who  confined  the 
blessings  of  God  to  their  own  nation  only  ;  and  that 
the  words  are  intended  to  declare,  that  Jesus  died  for 
Gentiles  as  well  as  Jews.  We  cannot  so  restrict  the 
sense.  Look  at  the  connexion  in  which  these  passa- 
ges are  found,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  the  terms  used, 
apply  to  all  men,  in  the  widest  sense  of  these  terms. 
Paul  instructs  Timothy  to  pray  for  all  men  ;  not  for 
Jews  and  Gentiles  in  the  general  sense,  but  for  kings, 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.          35 

and  all  in  authority  ;  for  this  is  good  and  acceptable  in 
the  sight  of  God,  who  will  have  all  men  to  be  saved. 
So  John  says,  u  if  any  man  sin,  we  have  an  Advocate 
with  the  Father."  1  Epis.  John  i.  1.  Is  not  the 
language  here  designed  to  apply  to  all  men  ?  Who  can 
dispute  it  ? 

32.  The  labor  of  Christ  will  be  efficacious  for  all 
for  whom  he  died.  "  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his 
soul,  and  shall  be  satisfied."     Isaiah  liii.  11.     "  And 
I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men 
unto  me."     John  xii.  32.     If  the  Redeemer  died  for 
all  men,  can  he  be  satisfied  with  the  salvation  of  a  part 
only  ?     Can  he  look  back  upon  his  work  and  say,  it  is 
well  done  9    Will  he  not  rather  draw  all  men  unto  him, 
by  the  power  of  his  truth,  and  make  them  holy  and 
happy  forever  ?     Are  we   not   authorized   to   expect 
such  a  result,  from  the  fact,  that  he  gave  himself  a  ran- 
som for  all  ?  and  if  they  are  all  drawn  unto  him,  will 
they  not  all  be  saved  ? 

33.  When   Jesus  was   born,  the  angel  said  to  the 
fearful  shepherds,  u  Behold,  I  bring  you  good  tidings 
of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  to  all  people."     Luke  ii. 
10.     The  tidings  of  the  Redeemer's  birth,  were  cer- 
tainly good  tidings  to  all  people.     They  should  all  hear 
these  tidings,  and  to  all  they  should  be  good  tidings. 
But  how  can  this  be,  if  a  part  of  the  human  race  are 
never  to  be  benefited  by  the  Redeemer's  sacrifice  ? 

34.  The  people  who  heard  Jesus  preach,  said,  "  we 
have  heard  him  ourselves,  and  we  know  that  this  is  in- 
deed the  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world."     John  iv. 
42.     Jesus  cannot  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  if  the 
world  will  never  be  saved.    What  Jesus  taught  the  Sa- 
maritans, that  induced  them  to  regard  him  as  the  Saviour 
of  the  world,  may  be  infered,   1st.  from  his  conversa- 
tion with  the  woman  at  the  well  of  Jacob,  (John  iv.) 
and  2d,  from  the  exclamation  of  the  Samaritans,  in  the 
42d  verse.     He  evidently  did  not  preach  to  them  the 
doctrine  of  endless  misery  ;  for  would  they  have  con- 


36  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM, 

eluded  from  the  fact  of  his  preaching  that  doctrine,  that 
he  was  THE   SAVIOUR  OF  THE  WORLD  ?  " 

35.  John,    the    beloved    disciple    of    Christ,    said, 
"We  have  seen,  and  do  testify,  that  the  Father  sent 
the  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world."     1  John  iv, 
14.     This  is  the  same  character  that  the  Samaritans 
judged  the  Lord  to  possess,  from  his  personal  instruc- 
tions.    John  iv.  42.     John  says,  "  We  have  seen  ;  " 
i.  e.  he  knew  it  from  his  acquaintance  with  his  Master. 
Jind  do  testify.     We  cannot  hide  this  truth  ;  we  will 
proclaim   to   men,   that  Jesus  is  the   Saviour  of  the 
world. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  PROPHETS. 

36.  All  the  holy  prophets  have  spoken  of  the  resti- 
tution of  all  things.    "  And  he  shall  send  Jesus  Christ, 
which  before  was  preached  unto  you,  whom  the  heaven 
must  receive  until  the  times  of  restitution  of  all  things, 
which  God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  his  holy 
prophets,  since  the  world  began."     Acts  Hi.  20,  21. 
This  is  an  important  passage  of  Scripture.      u  And  he 
shall  send  Jesus  Christ,  which   before  was    preached 
unto  you,  [but  who  hath  been  crucified,  and  hath  as- 
cended unto  heaven,  and]  whom  the  heaven  must  re- 
ceive [or  contain,]  until  the  times  of  restitution  of  all 
things,  which  God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  his 
holy  prophets  since  the  world  began."     This   "resti- 
tution of  all   things  "    is   to   take    place,   when    Jesus 
comes  down  from  the  heavens,  in  the  sense  in  which 
he  had  ascended  into  heaven.     He  had  ascended  into 
heaven  bodily  ;  the  heavens   would  contain  him  until 
the  times  of  the  restitution  ;  and  then  he  would  bodily 
visit  the   earth  again.     Now  when  shall   he  visit    the 
earth  again  bodily  ?     Answer,  at  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead.     See  Acts  i.  10,  11,  and   1  Thess.  iv.  16. 
We  conclude  from  this,  that  the  restitution  of  all  things 
is  to  take  place  at  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.     The 
learned  Parkhurst  gives  this  view  of  the  subject,  and 
quotes  Stockius  at  large  as  agreeing  with  him.     See  his 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.  37 

Lex.  on  the  word  anoxaiaoTaai?.  We  do  not  under- 
stand, that  the  restitution  shall  not  begin  until  that  time, 
but  that  it  shall  then  be  completed,  and  filled  up,  so 
that  it  may  be  said,  all  things  are  restored.  This  is 
begun  in  part  in  this  life  ;  but  it  will  be  completed  and 
finished  at  the  resurrection.  What  is  this  restitution  ? 
It  is  the  putting  of  things  back  into  their  original  con- 
dition. See  A.  Clarke,  on  the  passage.  Man  was 
originally  created  in  God's  image  ;  but  the  divine  im- 
age has  been  obscured  by  sin  ;  and  men  now  bear  the 
image  of  the  earthly.  But  at  the  resurrection,  when 
Christ  shall  appear,  the  restitution  of  all  things  shall 
take  place,  and  then  mankind  will  be  restored  to  the 
image  of  God  again  ;  for  St.  Paul  says,  that  at  the  res- 
urrection mankind  shall  be  changed  from  the  earthly  to 
the  heavenly  image,  1  Cor.  xv.  49.  This  heavenly 
image  which  we  have  lost,  we  obtain  back  again  at  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  ;  and  to  this  the  Saviour's 
language  agrees,  for  he  saith,  that  in  the  resurrection 
men  shall  be  as  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven  ;  i.  e. 
they  shall  bear  the  heavenly  image  ;  Matt.  xxii.  30  ; 
that  they  can  die  no  more,  and  "  shall  be  the  children 
of  God,  being  the  children  of  the  resurrection."  Luke 
xx.  36.  This  God  hath  spoken  by  all  his  holy  proph- 
ets since  the  world  began  ;  not  fully  and  clearly  as  he 
hath  revealed  it  in  the  gospel ;  but  he  hath  spoken  by 
the  prophets  of  the  recovery  of  all  things  from  the  do- 
minion of  sin,  and  their  reconciliation  to  God,  and  the 
gaining  again  of  the  heavenly  image.  The  reader  is 
referred  to  a  long  and  excellent  passage  in  A.  Clarke's 
Com.  on  Acts  iii.  21,  which  he  closes  by  saying,  "as 
therefore,  the  subject  here  referred  to  is  that,  of  which 
all  th6  prophets  from  the  beginning  have  spoken,  (and 
the  grand  subject  of  all  their  declarations  was  Christ 
and  his  works  among  men,)  therefore  the  words  are  to 
be  applied  to  this,  and  no  other  meaning.  Jesus  Christ 
comes  to  raise  up  man  from  a  state  of  ruin,  and  restore 
to  him  the  image  of  God,  as  he  possessed  it  at  the  be- 
ginning." 


38  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

37.  Moses,   one  of  the  earliest  prophets,  foretold 
the   destruction   of  all  evil,   when  he  represented    sin 
under  the  figure  of  a  serpent,  whose  head  the  seed  of 
the  woman   was  to  bruise.      "  I  will  put  enmity  be- 
tween thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and 
her  seed  ;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise 
his  heel."    Gen.  iii.  15.     The  seed  of  the  woman  was 
Christ.      See   Luke   iii.  23 — 38,  in  which  place  the 
evangelist  traces  through  seventy-five  generations,  the 
descent   of  Christ   from    Eve.     Dr.    Lightfoot    says, 
Works,  IV.  185,   "that  all  the  prophets  from  Adam, 
and  upward,  had  their  eye  upon  the   promise  in  that 
garden,  and  spake  of  salvation  and  delivery  by  Christ, 
by  his  breaking  the  head,  and  destroying  the  kingdom, 
of  the    devil."     The    serpent  is  a    personification  of 
evil,  in  this  place.     A  wound  upon  the  head  of  a  ser- 
pent  is    fatal.      The   natural  inference  is,   Christ  will 
totally  destroy  evil.     See  Heb.  ii.  14.   1  John  iii.  8. 

38.  David  said,    "all  the  ends   of  the  world  shall 
remember,  and  turn  unto  the  Lord  ;  and  all  the  kindreds 
of  the  nations  shall  worship  before  him."  Psalms  xxii. 
27.      This  agrees  precisely  with  the  promise  of  God 
to  Abraham,  that  all  the  nations,  families,  and  kindreds 
of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed  in  Christ  Jesus. 

39.  David   also  said,  "  all  kings  shall  fall  down  be- 
fore him  (Christ),  all  nations  shall  serve  him,  —  *  *  *  *  * 
men  shall  be  blessed  in  him,  all  nations  shall  call  him 
blessed."     Psalms  Ixxii.  11,  17.      This  is  of  the  same 
import  with  section  38. 

40.  David  also  said,  "  All  nations  whom  thou  hast 
made  shall  come  and  worship  before  thee,  O  Lord, 
and  shall  glorify  thy  name."     Psalms  Ixxxtvi.  9.     This 
must  certainly  include  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  ;  God 
made  them  all,  from  Adam  to  the  latest  born. 

41.  David  also  said,  not  less  than  twenty-six  times, 
in  that  part  of  his  meditations  embraced  in  the  136th 
Psalm,  "  his  mercy  endureth  forever."     What  kind  of 
a  mercy  is  the  mercy  of  God,  which  is  to  endure  for- 
ever ?     It  is  a  universal  mercy.    See  the  next  section. 


or  THK 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  imflKERSALISM.          39 

^4: 

42.  He  also   declared,  that  that  mercy  which  is  to 
endure  forever,  is  over  all  the  works  of  God.     "  The 
Lord  is  good  to  all,  and  his  tender  mercies  are  over  all 
his  works."     Psalms  cxlv.  9.     God  is  the  same,  yes- 
terday, to-day,  and  forever. 

43.  He  also  said,  "  all  thy  works  shall  praise  thee, 
O  Lord,  and  thy  saints  shall  bless  thee."    Psalms  cxlv. 
10.    Can  all  God's  works  praise  him,  if  a  part  are  con- 
signed to  eternal  fire  ? 

44.  He  also  said,  "  The  Lord  is  gracious,  and  full 
of  compassion,  slow  to    anger,  and    of  great   mercy." 
Psalms  cxlv.  8.     Can  endless  misery  be  ordained  by 
such  a  God  as  this  ? 

45.  He  also  said  ;  "  The  Lord  is  merciful  and  gra- 
cious, slow  to  anger,  and  plenteous  in  mercy.     He  will 
not  always  chide  ;  neither  will  he  keep  his  anger  for- 
ever."    Psalms  ciii.  8,  9.     This  could  not  possibly  be 
true,  if  God  purposed  to  make  any  of  his  creatures  for- 
ever miserable.     If  we  allow  that  torment  shall  be  end- 
less, can  we  say,  that  "  God  will  not  always  chide," 
nor  "  keep  his  anger  forever  ? " 

46.  Isaiah  represented,  that  there  was  no  sin  which 
might   not  be  pardoned.     "  Though  your  sins   be  as 
scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow  ;  though  they  be 
red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool."     Isa.  i.  18. 
The  evident  intent  of  this  language  is,  that  there  was 
no  sin  so  deep-dyed  in  the  soul,  that  it  could  not  be 
washed  away.     What  is  here  said  of  Israel,  is  true  of 
every  individual. 

47.  It  is  said,  that  "  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  the 
mountain  of  the  Lord's  house,"  —  a  figurative  repre- 
sentation of  the  covenant  of  the  Gospel.     Isa.  ii.  2. 

48.  In  this  mountain,  the  Lord  of  Hosts  hath  made 
for  all  people  a   feast   of   fat  things.     "  And   in  this 
mountain,  shall  the  Lord  of  Hosts  make  unto  all  people 
a  feast  of  fat  things,  a  feast  of  wines  on  the  lees  ;  of 
fat  things   full  of  marrow,  of  wines  on  the  lees  well- 
refined."     Isa.  xxv.   6.      By   "  mountain,"  here,    is 
meant  the  covenant  of  the  Gospel ;  the  place  of  the 


40  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

establishment  of  the  ark  is  made  a  metaphor,  to  signify 
the  Gospel.  Adam  Clarke  says,  this  feast  is  "  salva- 
tion by  Jesus  Christ."  Com.  on  the  place.  This  sal- 
vation is  prepared  for  all  people  ;  it  is  sufficient  to 
supply  the  wants  of  all. 

49.  "  God  will  destroy,  in  this  mountain,  the  face 
of  the  covering  cast  over  all  people,  and  the  veil,  that 
is  spread  over  all  nations."     Isa.  xxv.  7.     This  salva- 
tion is  not  uselessly  prepared.      Unbelief  shah1  be  done 
away.      The  darkness  of  the  nations  shall  be  removed. 
The  covering  cast  over  all  nations  shall  be  destroyed  ; 
they  will  then  all  see  the  truth. 

50.  u  God  will  swallow  up  death  in  victory."     Isa. 
xxv.  8.      This  is  to  take  place  at  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead,   for  Paul  quotes   these  words,  and    applies 
them  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  in  1  Cor.  xv.  54. 

51.  "  The  Lord  God  will  wipe  away  tears  from  off 
all  faces  "     Isa.  xxv.  8.     The   work  of  the  Gospel 
will  not  be  fully  done,  until  tears  shall  be  wiped  away 
from  all  faces.     Sorrow  shall  cease.     Paul  applies  the 
subject  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

52.  Isaiah  said,  "  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  re- 
vealed, and  all  flesh  shall  see  it  together."     Isa.  xl.  5. 
This   is   the  declaration  of  Jehovah,  for  the  prophet 
adds,  "  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it."     If 
the  Lord  hath  declared,  that  all  flesh  shall  see  his  glory 
together,  surely  it  must  be  done. 

53.  Isaiah  represents  the  Gospel  as  being  complete- 
ly successful  in  accomplishing  the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  sent  into  the  world  ;  —  that,  as  the  rain  and  snow 
come  down  from  heaven,  and  return    not  thither,  but 
water  the  earth,  and  cause  it  to  bring  forth  and  bud,  so 
shall  the  word  of  God  be,  — it  shall  not  return  void, 
but  it  shall  accomplish  the  divine  pleasure,  and  prosper 
in  the  thing  for  which   God  sent   it.     Isa.  Iv.  10,  11. 
Thus  all  who  allow  that  God  sent  the  Gospel  to  benefit 
all  mankind,  must  here  see,  that  that  beneficent  object 
will  surely  be  accomplished.     If  any  reject  the  Gospel, 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.          41 

and  are  lost  forever,  can  it  be  said  in  truth,  that  God's 
word  does  not  return  unto  him  void  ? 

54.  Isaiah,  speaking  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  said, 
of  Christ,  "  I  will  also  give  thee  for  a  light  to  the  Gen- 
tiles, that  thou  mayest  be  my  salvation  unto  the  end  of 
the  earth."     Isa.  xlix.  6.     In  this  verse,  the  prophet 
affirms,  that  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  should  not  be 
confined  to  the  Jews.     u  I  will  also  give  thee  for  a 
light  to  the  Gentiles  ;  "  for  what  purpose  ?     Answer  ; 
"  that  thou  mayest  be  my  salvation  unto  the  end  of  the 
earth."     This   expression   is    intended   to   signify  the 
greatest  possible  extension  of  the  blessings  of  the  Gos- 
pel.    Is   this   consistent  with   the   supposed  fact,  that 
countless  millions  of  the  human  race  shall  never  hear 
of  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  ? 

55.  Isaiah  represented  Jehovah  as   saying,  "  I  will 
not  contend  forever,  neither  will  I  be  always  wroth  ; 
for  the  spirit  should  fail  before  me,  and  the  souls  which 
I  have  made."     Isa.  Ivii.  16.     Is  this  declaration  con- 
sistent with  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery  ?     Accord- 
ing to  that  doctrine,  will  not  God  contend  forever  ? 
will  he  not  be  always  wroth  ? 

56.  Jehovah    saith,  by  Jeremiah,   concerning   the 
covenant  he  made  with  the  house  of  Israel,  "  I  will  put 
my  law  in    their   inward    parts,  and   write  it   in   their 
hearts  ;  and  will  be  their  God,  and   they  shall  be   my 
people.     And  they  shall  teach  no  more  every  man  his 
neighbour,  and  every  man  his  brother,  saying,  know  the 
Lord  ;  for  they  shall   all  know  me,  from  the  least   of 
them  unto  the  greatest  of  them,  saith  the  Lord  ;  for  I 
will  forgive  their  iniquity,  and  I  will  remember  their  sin 
no   more."     Jer.  xxxi.  33,  34.     The   spirit    of   this 
passage  is  universal  grace.     What  God  here  saith  he 
will   do  for  the  Jews,  he  will  also  do  for  the  Gentiles. 
The  former  is  a  pledge  of  the  latter.      [See,  for  addi- 
tional argument  on  this  subject,  section  88.] 

57.  Jeremiah  bore  testimony  against  the  supposition, 
that  God  would  inflict  any  punishment  on  his  creatures 
which  is  not   for   their   good.      "  THE  LORD  WILL 

4* 


42  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

NOT      CAST      ©FT      FOREVER.         But,    though    he    CEUSC 

grief,  yet  will  he  have  compassion  according  to  the  mul- 
titude of  his  mercies,  for  he  doth  not  afflict  willingly, 
nor  grieve  the  children  of  men."  Lamen.  iii.  31  -  33. 
O,  what  a  precious  declaration  is  this  !  Though  God 
cause  grief,  yet  he  will  have  compassion  according  to 
the  multitude  of  his  mercies,  for  he  doth  not  afflict  wil- 
lingly, nor  grieve  the  children  of  men.  This  is  the 
principle  of  the  divine  government.  God  does  not  af- 
flict for  the  purpose  of  afflicting,  but  for  the  good  of 
the  sufferer.  How,  then,  can  endless  torment  be  in- 
flicted ? 

58.  Daniel  said,  of  the  reign  of  Christ,  "  there  was 
given  him  dominion,  and  glory  and  a  kingdom,  that  all 
people,  nations,  and  languages,  should  serve  him  ;  his 
dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  and  his  kingdom, 
that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed."    Dan.  vii.  14.     If 
all  people,   nations,  and  languages  serve  the   Saviour, 
will  they  be  endlessly  miserable  ?     Will   they  not  be 
endlessly  happy  ?     This  passage  should  be  applied,  un- 
doubtedly, to  all  for  whom  the  Saviour  died.     Jesus 
seems  to  have  referred  to  the  declaration  of  the  prophet, 
in  what  he  said  after  his  resurrection,  Matt,  xxviii.  18. 

59.  Hosea  said,  "  I  will   ransom   them   from   the 
power  of  the  grave  ;  I  will  redeem  them  from  death. 
O  death,  I  will   be   thy  plagues  ;    O  grave  (or  Hell, 
s/ieoZ),  I  will    be    thy  destruction."     Hosea  xiii.  14. 
Let  the  light  of  inspiration  guide  us.      St.  Paul  applies 
these  words  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  at  the  last 
day,  1  Cor.  xv.  54,  55.     At  the  resurrection   of  the 

•dead,  then,  God  will  destroy  sheol,  HELL.  He  does 
not  raise  his  creatures  from  the  dead  in  order  to  pun- 
ish them  forever  in  sheol,  for  sheol  shall  then  be 
destroyed. 

60.  Micafr  said,  of   Jehovah,  "  He   retaineth  not 
his    anger   forever,  because  he  delighteth  in  mercy." 
Micah  vii.  18.     A  most  precious  assurance  !  altogeth- 
er at  variance  with  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery. 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.          43 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  JESUS. 

61.  Jesus,  when  on  earth,  preached  in  such  a  man- 
ner, that  the  people  "  wondered  at  the  gracious  words 
which  proceeded   out  of    his    mouth."     Luke  iv.  22. 
This  could  not  have  happened,  had  he  threatened  the 
people  with  endless  misery.     He  preached  salvation  to 
sinful,  guilty  man  ;  he  preached  the  love  of  God  to  the 
whole  world  ;  and  declared,  that  God  sent  not  his  Son 
into  the  world  to  condemn   the  world,  but,  that  the 
world,  through  him,  might  be  saved.  •  Well  might  the 
people  wonder  at  his  u  gracious  words." 

62.  Jesus  inculcated    the    strongest   confidence    in 
God  ;  and  reasoned  in  the  most  tender  and  judicious 
manner  with  the  people,  to  dissuade  them  from  taking 
anxious  thought  for  the  future.     Read  Matt.  vi.  25  —34. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  striking  passages  in  the  whole 
New  Testament.     The  object  of  the  Saviour  was,  to 
encourage,  in  the  hearts  of  those  whom  he  addressed, 
the    most   implicit   confidence   in    God,  for  all  future 
blessings.     God  is  good  ;  he  is  kind,  even  to  the  un- 
thankful and  to  the  evil  ;  therefore  said  the  Saviour, 
u  take  no  anxious  thought."     Be  not  afraid  ;  God  will 
do  thee  good.     He  has  already  proved  his  beneficence 
to  thee.     He  takes  care  of  the  lower  orders  of  beings  ; 
why  shouldst  thou   doubt?      He  clothes  the    flowers 
of  the  field  with  beauty  ;    why  shouldst  thou   despair  ? 
Take  not  anxious,  painful  thought  for  the  future.      Suf- 
ficient unto  the  present  is  the  evil  thereof.      Such  is  the 
spirit  of  the  passage,  which  is  perfectly  consistent  with 
the  doctrine  of  Universalism,  but   utterly  inconsistent 
with  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery. 

63.  Jesus  warned  the  people  against  the  doctrine  of 
the  Pharisees,  who  are  well  known  to  have  believed  in 
endless  punishment.     Matt.  xvi.  6  ;  compare  verse  12. 
There  is  no  doubt,  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Pharisees 
were  of  a  partial  nature.     Jesus  was  impartial  in-  his 
teachings.     He  was  the  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners, 
and  for  this,  the  Pharisees  hated   him.      This  was  the 


44  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

great  point  on  which  he  differed  from  the  Pharisees. 
Their  doctrine  peculiarly  was  a  doctrine  of  cruelty, 
wrath,  and  partiality  ;  his  was  a  doctrine  of  love,  com- 
passion, and  universal  grace.  No  person,  who  will 
make  the  comparison  fairly,  can  avoid  coming  to  this 
result.  Beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees. 

64.  Jesus  taught,  that  men  in  the  future  world  will 
be  like  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven,  —  holy,  spotless, 
and  pure.     "  In  the  resurrection,  they  neither  marry, 

,,nor  are  given  in  marriage  ;  but  are  as  the  angels  of  God 
in  heaven."  Matt.  xxii.  30  ;  Luke  xx.  35,  36.  In 
what  sense  shall  they  be  as  the  angels  of  God  in 
heaven  ?  Let  the  passage  in  Luke  xx.  answer  this 
question.  "Neither  can  they  die  any  more,  for  they 
are  equal  unto  the  angels,  and  are  the  children  of  God, 
being  the  children  of  the  resurrection."  Here  are  two 
points,  in  which  they  will  be  equal  to  the  angels,  viz. 
1st.  they  will  be  immortal ;  and,  2nd.  they  will  be 
children  of  God,  bearing  a  moral  likeness  to  him. 
This  will  be  the  state  of  all  who  shall  be  raised  from 
the  dead. 

65.  Jesus  reproved  the  Pharisees  for  shutting  up 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.     u  Woe  unto  you,  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  hypocrites  !    for  ye   shut  up    the   kingdom 
of  heaven  against  men  ;  for  ye  neither  go  in  yourselves, 
neither  suffer  ye  them  that  are  entering  to  go  in."    Matt, 
xxiii.  13.      These   Pharisees  were  never  charged  with 
having  shut  up  the  kingdom  of  hell ;  that,  they  appear 
to  have  kept  open.     But    they  shut  up  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.     Jesus  desired  to  have  all  men   enjoy  his 
kingdom  ;  and  we  are  assured,  that,  at  last,  all  shall 
know-the  Lord,  from  the  least  unto  the  greatest.     They 
will  then  all  have  entered  the  gospel  kingdom. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OP  PETER. 

66.  Peter  saw,  in   the  vision  of  the  vessel  like  a 
sheet  knit  at  the  four  corners,  that  all  men  came  down 
from  heaven  ;  that  they  are  all  encircled  in  the  kind 
care  of  God,  while  here  on  earth  ;  and,  that  "  all  will 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.          45 

be  drawn  up  again  into  heaven."     Acts  x.  10-15  ; 
xi.  5-10. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  PAUL. 

67.  Paul  represented  the  free  gift  of  life  as  extend- 
ing equally  with  sin.     "  As,  by  the   offence  of  one, 
judgment  came  upon  all  men  to  condemnation  ;  even 
so  by  the  righteousness  of  one,  the  free  gift  came  upon 
all  men  unto  justification  of  life."    Rom.  v.  18.     This 
is  a  very  important   passage.     It  teaches   us,  that  the 
free  gift   of  eternal  life  shall  extend  equally  with  sin. 
On* the  one  hand  we  are  told,  judgment  came  upon  all 
men  by  sin  ;  on  the  other  we  find,  that  "  the  free  gift 
carne  upon  all  men  unto  justification  of  life."     This 
free  gift  is  eternal  life,  see  Rom.  vi.  23.    But,  for  a  fur- 
ther view  of  the  argument  of  the  apostle  in  this  place,  see 
section  68. 

68.  Paul  also  says,  "  For  as  by  one  man's  disobe- 
dience many  were  made  sinners,  so  by  the  obedience 
of  one  shall  many  be  made  righteous."     The   same 
many  that  were  made  sinners,  Paul  declares    "  shall 
be  made  righteous."     This  certainly  asserts    the    sal- 
vation of  all  sinners.     Parkhurst,   in  his  Greek    Lex- 
icon, says,   01  nottoi,  the    many,  i.  e.   the    multitude, 
or  whole  bulk  of  mankind,  Rom.   v.  15,  19,  in  which 
texts  ol  noMol  are  plainly  equivalent  to  nuvrag  av&gtanovs, 
all  men,  verses  12,  18."     The  learned  Dr.  Macknight 
is  to  the  same  purport.     "  For  as  o«c  ?roAAo/,  the  many, 
in  the  first  part  of  the  verse,  does  not  mean  some  of 
mankind  only,  but  all  mankind,  from  first  to  last,  who, 
without  exception,  are  constituted  sinners,  so  the  many 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  verse,  who  are  said  to  be  con- 
stituted righteous,   through  the   obedience    of  Christ, 
must  mean  ALL  MANKIND,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  the  world,  without  exception."     See  his  com- 
mentary on  the  place.     The  evident  sense  of  the  pas- 
sage is  this  :  For  as  the  many,  that  is,  the  whole  bulk 
of  mankind  were  made  sinners,  so  shall  the  many,  that 
is,  the  whole,  the  whole  bulk  of  mankind,  be  made  righ- 


46  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

teous.  What  can  be  plainer  than  this  fact  ?  We  agree 
with  the  authors  of  the  Improved  Version,  who  say, 
"  Nothing  can  be  more  obvious  than  this,  that  it  is  the 
apostle's  intention  to  represent  all  mankind,  without  ex- 
ception, as  deriving  greater  benefit  from  the  mission  of 
Christ,  than  they  suffered  injury  from  the  fall  of  Adam. 
The  universality  of  the  apostle's  expression  is  very  re- 
markable. The  same  cc  many  "  who  were  made  sin- 
ners by  the  disobedience  of  one,  are  made  righteous  by 
the  obedience  of  the  other.  If  all  men  are  condemned 
by  the  offence  of  one,  the  same  all  are  justified  by  the 
righteousness  of  the  other.  These  universal  terms*  so 
frequently  repeated,  and  so  variously  diversified,  cannot 
be  reconciled  to  the  limitation  of  the  blessings  of  the 
Gospel,  to  the  elect  alone,  or  to  a  part  only  of  the  hu- 
man race."  —  Note  on  Rom.  v.  19. 

69.  Grace  shall  abound  more  than  sin,   and  reign 
more  potently,  so  that  at  last  all  shall  end  in  everlasting 
life.     "  Where   sin  abounded,  grace   did   much  more 
abound  ;  that  as  sin  hath  reigned  unto  death,  even  so 
might  grace  reign  through  righteousness,  unto  eternal 
life,  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."    Rom.   v.   20,   21. 
What  a  blessed  assurance  !     Grace  shall  conquer  sin  ? 
In  every  heart  where  sin  has  reigned,  grace  shall  set  up 
its  empire.    Grace  shall  reign  triumphantly  and  success- 
fully.    We  see  not  yet  all  this   done  ;  but  it  shall  be 
done  at  last. 

70.  Paul  teaches,  that  the  same  creature  which  was 
made  subject  to  vanity,   u  shall  be  delivered  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption,  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the 
children  of  God."     Rom.  viii.  21.     It  is  worthy  of 
remark,  that  it  is  the  same  "  creature,"  or  creation, 
which  was  made  subject  to  vanity,  that  is  to  be  deliv- 
ered.   Rev.  Thomas  White,  in  his  sermons  preached  at 
Welbeck  Chapel,  translates  the  passage  thus  :  "  For 
THE  CREATION  was  made  subject  to  vanity,  not  willing- 
ly, but  by  reason  of  him  who   subjected   it  ;  in  hope 
that  THE  CREATION  ITSELF  also  shall  be  delivered  from 
the  bondage  of  corruption,  into  the  glorious  liberty  of 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.          47 

the  sons  of  God."  (Home's  Intro.  II.  540.)  Dr. 
Macknight  decides,  that  creature,  in  the  passage,  signi- 
fies, u  every  human  creature,"  u  all  mankind."  Let 
us  read  the  passage  with  such  a  rendering,  as  it  undoubt- 
edly gives  it  its  just  sense.  For  every  human  creature 
was  made  subject  to  vanity,  not  willingly,  but  by  reason 
of  him  who  had  subjected  the  same  in  hope  ;  because 
every  human  creature  shall  be  delivered  from  the  bond- 
age of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons 
of  God. 

71.  Paul  teaches  the  eventual  salvation  of  both  Jews 
and  Gentiles.     "  Blindness  in  part  is  happened  to  Is- 
rael, until  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in  ;  "  and 
so  "  ALL  ISRAEL  SHALL  BE  SAVED."  Rom.  xi.  25,  26. 
The  terms,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  comprehend  all  man- 
kind.    Paul  asserts  the  ultimate  salvation  of  both  Jews 
and  Gentiles,  that  is,  of  all  men.      What  serious  man 
can  pretend,   that  by  the  fulness  of  the   Gentiles  he 
meant  only  a   portion  of  them,  and  by  all  Israel,  he 
meant  only  a  small  part  of  Israel  ?    Was  it  such  a  view, 
that  led  Paul  to  exclaim,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  lumin- 
ous argument  on  this  subject,    "  O  the   depth  of  the 
riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  ?  " 
If  God  sought  to  save  the  whole,  and  succeeded  in  sav- 
ing only  a  fraction,  was  the  depth  of  his  wisdom  so  sur- 
passingly great  ?  And  remark  what  he  says  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  llth  chapter.   "  For  of  him  (God)  and 
through  him,  and  TO  HIM  are  all  things,"  -to.  navrn,  the 
universe  ;  as  Dr.  Whitby  says,   "  For  of  him  (as  the 
donor)  and  through  him  (as  the  director  and  providen- 
tial orderer)   and  to  him  (as  the-  end)  be  all  things." 
The  argument  is  complete. 

72.  Paul  teaches,  that  whether  living  or  dying  we  are 
the  Lord's.     "  For  none  of  us  liveth  to  himself,  and 
no  man  dieth  to  himself.     For  whether  we  live  we  live 
unto  the  Lord  ;  and  whether  we  die  we  die  unto  the 
Lord  ;  whether  we  live,  therefore,  or  die,  we  are  the 
Lord's."     Rom.  xiv.  7,  8.     Does  Paul  here  mean  to 
include  all  mankind  ?     Does  he  here  mean  to  assert, 


48  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALTSM. 

that  all,  without  exception,  are  the  Lord's  ?  We  can 
come  to  no  other  conclusion.  He  adds,  "  For  to  this 
end  Christ  both  died,  and  rose,  and  revived,  that  he 
might  be  Lord  both  of  the  dead  and  living,"  verse  9. 
The  terms  u  dead  and  living,"  evidently  signify  all  the 
human  race.  Of  course,  all  the  human  race  are  Christ's 
for  ever. 

73.  Paul   saith,  u  As  in  Adam  all   die,  even  so  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."   1  Cor.  xv.  22.     "  If 
any  man  be  in  Christ  Jesus,  he  is  a  new  creature."     2 
Cor.  v.  17.   Hence,  if  all  shall  be  made  alive  in  Christ  ^ 
they  shall  all  be  new  creatures  in  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead.      Belsham  says,   "  The  apostle's  language  is  so 
clear  and  full  with  respect  to  the  final  happiness  of  those 
who  are  thus  raised,  and  that  their  resurrection  to  life 
will  be  ultimately  a  blessing,  that  the  generality  of  Chris- 
tians have  supposed,  that  he  is  here  treating  of  the  res- 
urrection of  the  virtuous  only.     But  that  is  not  the  fact. 
He  evidently  speaks  of  the  restoration  of  the  whole  hu- 
man race.     All  who  die  by  Adam  shall  be  raised  by 
Christ  ;  otherwise  the  apostle's  assertion  would  be  un- 
true.   The  case  then  would  have  been  this,  as  in  Adam 
all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  a  select  number,  a  small  pro- 
portion, be  made  alive.     But  this  is  not  the  apostle's 
doctrine.    His  expressions  are  equally  universal  in  each 
clause.     ALL  die  in  Adam.     The  same  ALL,  without 
any  exception,  without  any  restriction,  shall  by  Christ 
be  restored  to  life,  and  ultimately  to  holiness  and  ever- 
lasting happiness." 

74.  Death,  the  last  enemy,  shall  be  destroyed.     1 
Cor.  xv.  26.     If  death  be  the  last  enemy,  and  if  that 
shall  be  destroyed,  there  will  no  enemies  to  the  happi- 
ness of  man  remain  after  the  resurrection. 

75.  Paul,  in  his  account  of  the  resurrection,  does 
not  admit  of  the  existence  of  sin  in  the  immortal  state. 
"  So  also  is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.     It  is  sown 
in   corruption,  it  is-  raised  in  incorruption  ;  *  *  *  * 

it  is  raised  in  glory  .  *****  it  is  raised  in  power  ; 
*  *  *  *  *  it  is  raise(i  a  spiritual  body."     1  Cor.   xv. 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.         49 

42-44.  When  the  apostle  cries  out  triumphantly,  u  O 
death  !  where  is  thy  sting  ?  "  he  certainly  means,  that 
sin  was  absent,  for  "  the  sting  of  death  is  sin." 

76.  Paul  saith,  u  that  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling 
the  world  unto  himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses  un- 
to them."    2  Cor.  v.  19.     It  is  not  said,  that  God  was 
in  Christ  reconciling  himself  to  the  world,  for  he  was 
never  unreconciled  to  the  world  ;  but  God  was  in  Christ 
reconciling  the  world  to  himself.     By  "  the  world  "  in 
this  place  is  undoubtedly  intended  all  for  whom  Christ 
died.     God  was  engaged  in  this  work  ;  he  had  appoint- 
ed the  means  for  its  accomplishment  ;  and  we  believe, 
under  his  wise  direction,  it  will  be  done. 

77.  Paul  saith  to  the  Galatians,  u  There  is   neither 
Jew  nor  Greek,  there  is  neither  bond  nor  free,  there  is 
neither  male   nor  female  ;  for  ye  are   all  one  in  Christ 
Jesus.     And  if  ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's 
seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the   promise."     Gal.  iii. 
28,  29.     According  to  what  promise  ?    Answer.    Ac- 
cording to  the  promise  of  God  to  Abraham,  that  in  him, 
and  his  seed  [Christ],  all  the  nations,  kindreds,  and  fami- 
lies of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed.     In  Christ,  therefore, 
none  of  the  distinctions  are  known  of  which  Paul  there 
speaks.     u  Ye  are   all  one  in  Christ  Jesus."     That 
point  being  settled,  he  adds,  "  and  if  ye  be  Christ's  [as 
he  had  proved]  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  [that  is, 
not  by  lineal  descent,  but  spiritually] ,  and  heirs  accord- 
ing to  the  promise." 

78.  He  saith,  that  to  Jesus  was  given    "  a  name 
which  is  above  every  name,  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus 
every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and  things 
in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth  ;  and  that  every 
tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the 
glory  of  God  the   Father."     Philip,  ii.  9-11.     Pro- 
fessor Stuart,   of  Andover,  says,  in   his  "  Letters  to 
Dr.  Channing,"  "  Things  in  heaven,  earth,  and  under 
the  earth,  is  a  common  periphrasis  of  the  Hebrew  and 
New  Testament  writers,  for  the  universe   (TO  n«v  or  ra 

)     What  can  be  meant  by  things  in  heaven,  that 
5 


50  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

is,  beings  in  heaven,  bowing  the  knee  to  Jesus,  if  spir- 
itual worship  be  not  meant  ?  "  So  much  from  Profes- 
sor Stuart.  Now  if  the  universe  [that  is,  all  men 
without  exception]  are  to  render  spiritual  and  divine 
worship  to  Christ,  will  they  not  all  be  holy  and  happy  ? 

79.  The  foregoing  reason  is  confirmed  by  the  fact, 
that  u  if  we  confess  with  the  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  believe  in  the  heart  that  God  hath  raised  him  from 
the  dead,  we  shall  be  saved."     Rom.  x.  9. 

80.  It  pleased  the  Father,  by  his  son  Jesus,   "  to 
reconcile  all  things  unto  himself,  whether  they  be  things 
in  earth,  or  things  in  heaven."     Col.  i.  19,  20.      This 
is  a  similar  periphrasis  to  that  spoken  of  by  Professor 
Stuart,  [see   section  78,]  which  signifies  the  universe. 
The  phrase,   "  all  things,"  as    Archbishop  Newcome 
observes,  signifies   all   intelligent  beings.     It  is  God's 
pleasure  u  to  reconcile  all  things  unto  himself,"  —  an 
irrefutable  argument  in  proof  of  the   final  holiness  and 
happiness  of  all  men. 

81.  Paul  directed  Timothy  to  pray  and  give  thanks 
for  all  men,  which  was  agreeable  to  the  will  of  God  to 
"have  all  men  to  be  saved,"  who  had  appointed  a  me- 
diator to  give  himself  "  a  ransom  for  all."     1  Tim.  ii. 
1-6.     Paul's   argument  in  this  place  is    as  follows: 
I  exhort  first,  that  supplication,  prayers,  intercessions, 
and  giving  -of  thanks  be  made  for  all  men.     None  are 
excluded  from  the  divine  favor  ;  all  have  something  to 
be  grateful  for  ;  for  God  is  kind  and  good  to  ALL.    He 
will  have  all  men  to  be  saved,  which  is  the  highest  proof 
of  his  regard  for  all  men  ;  and  to  this  end  he  has  sent 
his  Son  to  die  for  all  men,   in  execution  of  the  divine 
purpose  to  bring  all  to,  the  enjoyment  of  salvation. 

82.  God  is  called  "  the   Saviour  of  all  men."     1 
Tim.  iv.  10.      This  title  is   applied  to   Jehovah,   be- 

'  cause  he  is  the  source  of  salvation.  He  wills  the  sal- 
vation of  all  ;  he  hath  purposed  the  salvation  of  all  ; 
he  hath  promised  salvation  to  all  ;  and  hath  confirmed 
that  promise  by  an  oath.  Hence,  he  is  originally  the 
Saviour  of  all  men. 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UMVERSALISM.  51 

83.  The  u  grace  of  God  bringeth   salvation  to  all 
men,  and    teacheth    us,  that,  denying  ungodliness   and 
worldly  lusts,  we   should  live  soberly,  righteously,  and 
godly  in  this  present  world."     Titus  ii.  11,  12.     Adam 
Clarke  remarks,   "  It  cannot  be  said,  except  in  a  very 
refined  and  spiritual  sense,  that  this  Gospel  had  then  ap- 
peared to   all  men  ;  but  it  may  be  well    said,   that  it 
bringeth  salvation  to  all  men  ;  this  is  its  design  ;  and  it 
was  to  taste  death  for  every  man,  that  its  author  came 
into  the  world."     Again,  he  adds  ;  "  As  the  light  and 
heat  of  the  sun  are  denied  to  no  nation  nor  individual,  so 
the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  this  also  shines  out  upon 
all  ;  and  God  designs  that  all  mankind  shall  be  as  equally 
benefited   by  it,  in  reference  to  their  souls,  as  they  are 
in  respect  to  their  bodies,  by  the  sun  that  shines  in  the 
firmament  of  heaven." 

84.  Christ  is  to  "  destroy^ him  that  had  the  power  of 
death,  that  is,  the  devlD'    'Heb.  ii.  14.     Christ  will 
destroy  all  evil,  and  banish  it  entirely  from  the  universe, 

85.  Paul  says,  u  we  which  have  believed  do  enter 
into  rest ;  "  which  could  not  be  true,  if  they  believed  in 
the  doctrine  of  endless  misery.     Heb.  iv.  3. 

86.  "  It  is   impossible  for  God  to  lie,"  who  hath 
sworn   to  Abraham  to  bless   all  the  kindreds   of   the 
earth,  in  his  seed,  which  is  Christ.-    Heb.  vi.  18.     If 
God  could  be  false  to  his  own  promise,  then  the  world 
might  not  be  saved  ;  but  u  it  is  impossible  for   God  to 
lie."     Therefore,  all  men,  without  exception,  shall  at 
last  be  blessed  in  Christ  Jesus. 

87.  Paul  hath  repeated  the  testimony  of  Jeremiah, 
concerning  God's  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel  ; 
"  all  shall  know  we,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest." 
Heb.  viii.  1 1 .   This  is  a  pledge  of  the  previous  salvation 
of  the  Gentile  world.     The  word  of  God  assures  us, 
that  the  Gentiles  shall  be  fellow-heirs  with  the  Jews,  of 
the   blessings  of   the    Gospel.     God    says,  "  all  shall 
know  me,   from  the  least  to  the  greatest."     All  the 
children  of  Israel,   all  the  descendants  of  Abraham  ; 
not  those  who  may  happen  to  be  upon  the  earth  at  any 


52  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

particular  time,  but  the  whole  posterity  of  the  patri- 
arch, without  exception.  This  is  similar  to  what  Paul 
declares,  Rom.  xi.  26. 

88.  God  never  chastens  us    but  "  for  our  profit," 
causing  all  chastisement  "  afterward  to  yield  the^  peace- 
able fruit  of  righteousness  unto  them  which  are  exer 
cised  thereby."      Heb.  xii.  10,  11.      How,  then,  can 
the  doctrine  of  endless  punishment  be  true  ?     If  God's 
chastisements   afterward  yield  the  peaceable  fruits  of 
righteousness,  how  can  they  be  endless  ? 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  JOHN. 

89.  "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  us  from 
ALL   sin."     1  John  i.  7.     There  is    no   sin,  that   the 
blood  of  Christ  will  not  wash  away.     Though  our  sins 
be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  white  as  snow  ;  and,  though 
they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool.     Jesus 
can  save  the  chief  of   sinners.     1  Tim.  i.  15.      He 
has  the  will,  no  less  than  the  power  ;  therefore,  all  men 
will  be  saved  by  his  grace. 

90.  "  For  this  purpose  the  Son  of  God  was  mani- 
fested, that  he  might  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil." 
1  John  iii.  8.     Sin  is  the  work  of  the  devil,  and  will 
be  destroyed  ;  but  men  are  the  workmanship  of  God, 
and  will  not  be  ultimately  destroyed.     Jesus  shall  de- 
stroy all  sin  ;  he  came  into  the  world  for  that  special 
purpose  ;  and,  having  begun  the  work,  he  will  not  give 
over,  until  it  is  completely  accomplished. 

91.  The  record,  which  God  hath  given  of  his  Son, 
is  this  ;  u  That  God  hath  given  to  jus  eternal  life  ;  and 
this  life  is  in  his  Son."     1  John  v.  11.     Is  this  record 
true  ?  it  surely  is.    Who  are  called  on  to  believe  it  ?  all 
mankind.     If  any  man  believe  it  not,  he  makes  God  a 
liar,  by  saying,  that  God's  record  is  not  true.     God, 
then,  hath  certainly  given  eternal  life  to  all  men  in  his 
divine  purpose. 

92.  John,  the  revelator,  said  ;  u  And  every  creature 
which  is   in  heaven,  and  on  the  earth,  and  under  the 
earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea,  and  all  that  are  in 


SCRIPTURAL  EVIDENCES  OF  UNIVERSALISM.          53 

them,  heard  I  saying,  Blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory, 
and  power,  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne, 
and  unto  the  Lamb,  forever  and  ever."  Rev.  v.  13. 
Here  is  another  instaqce  of  the  "  common  periphrasis" 
of  the  Hebrew  and  New  Testament  writers  for  the  unir 
verse.  Every  creature  shall  at  last  pay  divine  honors  to 
God  and  the  Lamb.  "  If  this  be  not  spiritual  wor- 
ship," saith  Prof.  Stuart,  "  I  am  unable  to  produce  a 
case,  where  worship  can  be  called  spiritual  and  di- 
vine." 

93.  The  same  illustrious  writer  says  ;  u  Who  shall 
not  fear  thee,  O  Lord,  and  glorify  thy  name  ?  for  thou 
only  art  holy  ;  for  all  nations  shall  come  and  worship 
before  thee  ;  for  thy  judgments  are  made   manifest." 
Rev.  xv.  4.     Does  this  mean  only  all   those   nations 
who  may  happen  to  be  upon  the  earth  at  a  certain  time  ? 
or,  does  it  mean  "  all  nations,"  in  the  sense  of  the  di- 
vine promise  to  Abraham  ?     Judge  ye. 

94.  He  also  says  ;  "  The  tabernacle  of  God  is  with 
men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his 
people,  and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be 
their  God."     Rev.  xxi.  3.     When  this  is  fulfilled,  all 
men  will  be  reconciled  to  God.     The  Gospel  is  de- 
signed to  make  every  heart  the   dwelling-place  of  the 
Holy    Spirit ;    and,  when  the  purpose  of  the  Gospel 
shall  be  fully  accomplished,  God  shall  reign  in  the  hearts 
of  all  men. 

95.  He  furthermore  declares,  that  "  God  shall  wipe 
away  all  tears  from  their  eyes  ;  and  THERE   SHALL  BE 
NO  MORE  DEATH,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying  ;  neither 
shall  there  be  any  more  pain ;  for  the  former  things  are 
passed  away."     Rev.  xxi.  4.     Thus,  we  see  the  doc- 
trine of  eternal  weeping,  eternal  sighing,  eternal  sorrow, 
eternal  pain,  is  false  ;  false  as  the  Bible  is  true.     And, 
although  we  read,  in  the.  Scriptures,   of    the  second 
death,   yet,  if  we  read  of  thirty  deaths,  it  would  be 
no   argument    against    Universalism,    since    the    time 
is    to   come,  when    "  THERE    SHALL    BE    NO  MORE 
DEATH." 

5* 


54  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

96.  God  induces  all  good  people  to  pray  for  the  sal- 
vation of  all  men,  which  he  could  not  do,  if  it  were 
opposed  to  his  will ;  because,  "  if  we  ask  any  thing  ac- 
cording to  his  will,  he  heareth  us,"  1  John  v.  14  ;  and 
because  "the  desire  of  the  righteous  shall  be  granted." 
Prov.  x.  24. 

97.  Peter  said  ;  "  Believing  ye  rejoice  with  joy  un- 
speakable and  FULL  OF  GLORY."     Can  it  be  possible 
that  they  believed  in  the  doctrine  of  endless   sin  and 
misery  ?     Would  this  have  made  them  rejoice  with  un- 
speakable joy  ?     Not  unless  they  were  demons   in  hu- 
man form. 

98.  All   the   threatenings   of    the  word  of    God, 
when  properly  understood,  harmonize  with  the  doctrine 
of  Universalism ;    the    punishments    spoken  of   being 
limited   punishments   only,  and  no  threatening  or  law 
extending  sin,  or  its  consequences,  beyond  the  resurrec- 
tion. m***£&t 

99.  Universalism  is  the  only  hypothesis  in  which 
the    perfections    of    God    can   harmonize,  —  since,  if 
men   are  lost  forever  by  God's  decree  or  permission, 
it  impeaches  his  goodness  ;  if,  by  his  neglect  or  want 
of  foreknowledge,  it  impeaches  his  icisdom  ;  or,  if  sin 
be  too  mighty  for  him,  and  rebels  too  stubborn  for  him 
to  subdue,  it  impeaches  his  power. 

100.  Lastly  ;  u  Ml  things  shall  be  subdued  unto 
Christ^  —  Christ  shall  be  subject  unto  him  that  put  all 
things   under  him,   that  GOD  MAY  BE  ALL  IN 
ALL."     1  Cor.  xv.  28. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  55 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PASSAGES  FROM  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  EXPLAINED,  WHICH 
ARE  ADDUCED  TO  DISPROVE  THE  SENTIMENTS  OF  UNI- 
VERSALISTS. 

I.  THERE  are  but  few  passages  in  the  old  Testa- 
ment, which  are  adduced  in  proof  of  the  doctrine  of 
endless  misery ;  and  these  are  not  always  adduced  singly, 
and  written  out  in  full,  but  are  generally  given  in  shreds 
and  patches,  with  a  sort  of  connexion,  arranged  by  the 
author  who  quotes  them,  to  suit  himself.  In  proof  and 
illustration  of  this,  we  offer  the  following  extract  from 
Hawes's  "  Reasons  for  not  embracing  the  Doctrine  of 
Universal  Salvation,"  page  15.  The  author  professes 
to  lay  before  his  readers  a  comprehensive  view  of  what 
the  Bible  s,ays,  in  regard  to  the  future  punishment  of 
the  wicked,  meaning,  thereby,  their  endless  punishment. 
We  quote  here  what  he  states  in  regard  to  the  evidence 
found  in  the  Old  Testament.  "  To  begin  with  the  Old 
Testament  :  it  is  said  of  the  wicked,  they  are  to  be 
6  turned  into  hell ; '  '  their  name  '  is  to  be  '  put  out  for- 
ever ; '  '  the  portion  of  their  cup  '  is  '  snares,  fire,  and 
brimstone,  and  a  horrible  tempest ; '  they  '  shall  per- 
ish ;  consume  into  smoke  ;  consume  away  ; '  they 
1  shall  die  in  their  iniquity  ;  '  they  '  shall  rise  to  shame 
and  everlasting  contempt  ;  '  their  '  joy  is  but  for  a  mo- 
ment ; '  their  'candle  shall  be  put  out,'  and  their  '  hopes 
perish  ; '  their  '  hope  is  like  the  giving  up  of  the 
ghost  ; '  their  '  triumphing  is  short  ; '  their  end  is  to  be 
cut  off;'  a  day  which  '  burns  like  an  oven,  shall  burn 
them  up,  and  leave  them  neither  root  nor  branch  ; ' 
they  '  shall  suddenly  be  destroyed,  and  that  without 
remedy  ; '  God  '  will  laugh  at  their  calamity,  and  mock 
when  their  fear  cometh  ; '  he  will  '  tear  them  in  pieces, 
and  there  shall  be  none  to  deliver  ; '  their  '  expectations 
shall  perish  ; '  their  'hope  shall  be  cut  off,  and  their 
trust  be  a  spider's  web.'  " 


56  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

Is  this  the  way  to  show  what  the  Bible  teaches  ? 
What  doctrine  may  not  appear  to  be  proved  from  the 
Bible,  if  a  writer  may  gather  up  shreds  and  fragments 
of  Scripture  in  this  manner,  and  weave  them  together  in 
any  order  and  form  that  may  suit  his  own  taste  ?  It  dis- 
plays somewhat  the  taste  of  the  wag,  who  attempted  to 
prove  it  the  duty  of  men  to  commit  suicide,  by  adduc- 
ing these  words ;  "  Ju'das  departed,  and  went  and 
hanged  himself,"  —  a  Go,  and  do  thou  likewise." 

II.  We  sometimes  find  Gen.  ii.  17,  referred  to,  to 
prove  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery  ;  u  In  the  day 
that  thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die."  Luther 
Lee  states,  u  The  penalty  of  the  divine  law  is,  in  itself, 
an  endless  curse  ;  "  (Universalism  Examined,  p.  242  ;) 
and  he  adduces  Gen.  ii.  17,  in  proof.  The  objection 
which  has  been  so  long  urged  against  Universalists,  that 
the  serpent  in  the  garden  of  Eden  preached  Universal- 
ism  to  our  first  parents,  when  he  said,  cc  ye  shall  not 
surely  die,"  is  founded  upon  the  presumption,  that  the 
death  threatened  in  case  of  disobedience  is  endless 
death. 

But  look  at  the  passage.  Is  it  said,  thou  shalt  die 
endlessly  ?  No.  Is  it  said,  thou  shalt  die  in  the  future 
state  ?  No.  Is  it  said,  thou  shalt  die  at  some  future 
time  7  No.  But  these  are  the  words  ;  "In  the  day 
thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die  ;  "  in  that  very 
day,  —  at  that  very  time.  There  is  not  the  slightest 
intimation  given  in  the  Scriptures,  that  this  death  was 
endless  death.  Adam  Clarke  supposed  this  death  to 
be  physical^  not  eternal.  The  phrase,  which  is  ren- 
dered u  thou  shalt  surely  die,"  he  translates,  a  death 
thou  shalt  die,  or,  dying  thou  shalt  die.  "  Other  mean- 
ings," he  adds,  "have  been  given  of  this  passage,  but 
they  are,  in  general,  either  fanciful  or  incorrect." 
Com.  on  Gen.  ii,  17.  Universalists  in  general  sup- 
pose this  death  to  be  a  moral  death,  a  falling  from  a 
state  of  purity  to  a  state  of  transgression  and  guilt  ; 
but  a  few,  like  Clarke,  consider  it  to  be  natural,  or 
physical  death. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  57 

III.  Gen.  vi.  3.    "And  the  Lord  said,  my  spirit  shall  not  always 
strive  with  man." 

By  what  rule  can  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery  be 
inferred  from  this  passage  ?  Different  views  have  been 
taken  of  its  sense.  Some  suppose  that  God  will  not  al- 
ways strive  with  man,  because,  after  he  has  striven  suffi- 
ciently, he  will  give  them  over  to  punishment.  Thus, 
Adam  Clarke,  u  God  delights  in  mercy,  and,  therefore, 
a  gracious  warning  is  given  :  even  at  this  time,  the  earth 
was  ripe  for  destruction,  but  God  promises  them  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years'  respite  ; —  if  they  repented  in 
that  interim,  well  :  if  not,  they  should  be  destroyed  by  a 
flood,"  (Com.  on  Gen.  vi.  3.)  not  sentenced  to  endless 
misery.  There  are  others,  who  suppose  God's  spirit  will 
not  always  strive  with  man,  because  it  will  be  rendered 
unnecessary  by^  the  conversion  of  the  creature.  It  is 
supposed  by  some,  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  man, 
a  child  of  dust,  to  endure  always  the  strivings  of  his 
Maker  ;  and,  for  this  reason,  he  will  not  always  strive 
with  man.  So  Isaiah  seems  to  speak,  in  God's  behalf. 
"  I  will  not  contend  forever,  neither  will  I  be  always 
wroth  :  for  the  spirit  should  fail  before  me,  and  the 
souls  which  I  have  made."  Isaiah  Ivii.  16.  Which- 
ever view  of  the  passage  the  reader  may  adopt,  we  are 
sure,  that  no  just  interpretation  will  favor  the  doctrine 
of  endless  misery. 

IV.  Deut.  xxxii.  22.    "  For  a  fire  is  kindled  in  mine  anger,  and 
shall  burn  unto  the  lowest  hell." 

This  passage  is  quoted  by  Parsons  Cooke,  and  J.  M. 
Davis  as  proof  of  endless  misery.  Certainly,  the  pas- 
sage has  no  reference  to  the  future  state.  See  the  whole 
verse  and  context.  "  For  a  fire  is  kindled  in  mine  an- 
ger, and  shall  burn  unto  the  lowest  (sheol)  hell,  and 
shall  consume  the  earth  with  her  increase,  and  set  on 
fire  the  foundations  of  the  mountains.  I  will  heap  mis- 
chief upon  them  ;  I  will  spend  my, arrows  upon  them. 
They  shall  be  burned  with  hunger,  and  devoured  with 
burning  heat,  and  with  bitter  destruction  ;  I  will  also 
send  the  teeth  of  beasts  upon  them,  with  the  poison  of 


58  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSAL  ISM. 

serpents  of  the  dust.  The  sword  without,  and  terror 
within,  shall  destroy  both  the  young  man  and  the  virgin  ; 
the  suckling,  also,  with  the  man  of  gray  hairs."  Can 
this  passage  be  justly  applied  to  the  future  state  ?  Will 
men  be  burnt  with  hunger  in  the  immortal  world  ? 
Will  the  teeth  of  beasts  be  upon  them  there  ?  and  the 
poison  of  serpents  ?  Will  the  sword  destroy  them  in 
that  world  ?  Adam  Clarke  honestly  applies  the  passage 
to  the  temporal  destruction  of  the  Jews.  He  says, 
the  lowest  hell  signifies,  u  the  very  deepest  destruction  ; 
a  total  extermination  ;  so  that  the  earth^  their  land, 
and  its  increase,  and  all  their  property,  should  be 
seized,  and  the  foundations  of  their,  mountains,  their 
strongest  fortresses,  should  be  razed  to  the  ground. 
All  this  was  fulfilled  in  a  most  remarkable  manner,  in 
the  last  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans,  so 
that  of  the  fortifications  of  that  city,  4  not  one  stone 
was  left  upon  another.'"  Commentary  on  the  place. 
The  learned  Lightfoot  says,  "  The  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem is  very  frequently  expressed  in  Scripture,  as  if  it 
were  the  destruction  of  the  whole  world,  Deut.  xxxii. 
22  7  '  a  fire  is  kindled  in  mine  anger,  which  shall  burn 
unto  the  lowest  hell,'  (the  discourse  there  is  about  the 
wrath  of  God  consuming  that  people  ;  see  verses  20, 
21)."  So  far  Lightfoot,  Works,  XI. p.  303.  Dr.  Al- 
len, late  President  of  Bowdoin  College,  in  his  Lecture 
on  Universal  Salvation,  grants,  that  the  punishment  re- 
ferred to  in  this  passage,  is  u  cutting  off  from  life,  de- 
stroying from  the  earth  by  some  special  judgment,  and 
removing  to  the  invisible  state  of  the  dead." 

V.  Job  viii.  13,  14.  "  The  hypocrite's  hope  shall  perish :  whose 
hope  shall  be  cut  off,  and  whose  trust  shall  be  a  spider's  web." 

It  is  difficult  to  believe,  that  any  sensible  person 
would  adduce  this  passage  as  proof  of  endless  pun- 
ishment ;  yet  such  is  the  fact.  We  find  it  ^adduced 
in  Hawes's  "  Reasons,"  in  J.  M.  Davis's  u  Uni- 
versalism  Unmasked,"  and  in  Edwards  against  Chaun- 
cey.  Does  the  hypocrite  never  find,  in  this  life,  that 
his  hope  has  perished  ?  that  it  has  become  like  a 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.     59 

spider's  web  ?  Look  at  the  context.  "  He  shall  lean 
upon  his  house,  but  it  shall  not  stand."  Thus  his  hope, 
his  confidence,  his  support  on  which  he  leaned,  failed 
him.  "  He  shall  hold  it  fast,  but  it  shall  not  endure. 
He  is  green  before  the  sun,  and  his  branch  shooteth 
forth  in  his  garden."  Does  this  language  apply  to  the 
immortal  existence  ?  Evidently  it  does  not. 

VI.  Job.  xi.  20.     "  But  the  eyes  of  the  wicked  shall  fail,  and  they 
shall  not  escape,  and  their  hope  shall  be  as  the  giving  up  of  the 
ghost." 

All  this  frequently  happens  in  the  present  state  of 
being  ;  such  is  the  fate  of  the  wicked  in  all  ages  ;  and 
yet  Edwards,  Strong,  and  Hawes  adduce  this  text  in 
proof  of  endless  punishment.  The  language  in  Job  xi. 
20,  is  that  of  Zophar,  see  xi.  1.  At  the  conclusion  of 
the  chapter,  in  reviewing  what  Zophar  had  said,  Adam 
Clarke  remarks,  cc  Zophar  seems  to  have  had  a  full  con- 
viction of  the  all-governing  providence  of  God  ;  and 
that  those  who  served  him  with  an  honest  and  upright 
heart  would  be  ever  distinguished  in  the  distribution  of 
temporal  good.  He  seems,  however,  to  think,  that  re- 
wards and  punishments  were  distributed  in  this  life  ;  and 
does  not  refer,  at  least,  very  evidently,  to  the  future 
state.  Probably  his  information  on  subjects  of  divinity 
did  not  extend  much  beyond  the  grave." 

VII.  "The  triumphing  of  the   wicked  is  short,  and  the  joy  of 
the  hypocrite  but  for   a  moment.     Though  his  excellency  mount  up 
to  the  heavens,  and  his  head  reach  unto  the  clouds,  yet  he  shall  per- 
ish forever,"  &c.     Job  xx.  5-7. 

Strong  and  Hawes  both  adduce  this  passage  as  proof 
of  endless  punishment  ;  but  what  circumstance  is  here 
mentioned,  that  will  prove  endless  misery  ?  He  shall 
perish  forever.  So  far  from  regarding  this  expression 
as  proof  of  endless  misery,  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  on  the  con- 
trary, supposes,  that  it  rather  shows,  that  the  writer  of 
it  did  not  believe  in  any  future  existence  whatsoever. 
His  comment  is  as  follows.  u<  He  is  dust,  and  shall 
return  to  the  dust  from  which  he  was  taken.'  Zophar 
here  hints  his  disbelief  in  that  doctrine,  the  resurrection 


60  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

of  the  body,  which  Job  had  so  solemnly  asserted  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  or  he  might  have  been  like  some  in 
the  present  day,  who  believe  that  the  wicked  shall  be  an- 
nihilated, and  the  bodies  of  the  righteous  only  be  raised 
from  the  dead  ;  but  I  know  of  no  scripture  by  which 
such  a  doctrine  is  confirmed."  How  sadly  the  advo- 
cates of  endless  misery  disagree  in  regard  to  their  proof 
texts. 

VIII.  "  The  wicked  is  reserved  to  the  day  of  destruction,  they 
shall  be  brought  forth  to  the  day  of  wrath."     Job  xxi.  30. 

This  is  one  of  Dr.  Strong's  proof  texts  of  endless 
misery  ;  Dr.  Ely  also  adduces  it  with  much  confidence. 
But  is  there  the  least  hint  given,  that  this  day  of  de- 
struction and  wrath  is  after  death  ?  If  this  punishment 
is  not  to  commence  until  death,  it  is  hardly  possible,  that 
Job  would  have  said  concerning  the  wicked  to  whom  he 
referred,  u  The  clods  of  the  valley  shall  be  sweet  unto 
him."  This  would  be  singular  language  if  Job  had  be- 
lieved, that  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  was  reserved 
until  his  death.  Ev.  A.  C.  Thomas  remarks,  "  Ko- 
rah  and  his  company  were  reserved  until  the  people  had 
departed  c  from  the  tents  of  those  wicked  men,'  and 
then  the  earth  opened  and  swallowed  them  up,  with  all 
that  appertained  to  them.  Numbers  xvi.  The  Sodom- 
ites were  reserved  until  Lot  had  departed  from  the  city, 
—  then  they  were  destroyed,  together  with  all  that 
grew  upon  the  ground.  Gen.  xix.  The  antediluvians 
were  reserved  until  Noah  and  his  family  were  safe  in 
the  ark,  —  then  came  the  day  of  destruction,  and 
every  living  thing  died  that  moved  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth,  Gen.  viii.  You  thus  perceive,  that  the  wick- 
ed are  reserved  to  the  day  of  destruction,  and  of  wrath, 
in  the  present  life."  Theological  Discussion,  p.  96. 

IX.  "  For  what  is  the  hope  of  the  hypocrite,  though  he  hath  gain- 
ed, when  God  taketh  away  his  soul  ? "     Job  xxvii.  8. 

This  is  adduced  by  Edwards,  in  his  book  against 
Chauncey.  The  hope  of  the  hypocrite  is  good  for 
nothing  at  any  time,  neither  in  the  hour  of  prosper- 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.     61 

ity  or  adversity,  of  life  or  of  death.  Let  any  one  read 
the  remainder  of  the  chapter,  particularly  verses  13-23, 
and  he  will  see,  that  Job  did  not  intend  to  be  under- 
stood, that  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  is  not  in  this 
life.  By  reading  the  whole  chapter,  the  subject  is  made 
plain. 

X.  *'  Is  not  destruction  to  the  wicked  ?  and  a  strange  punishment 
to  the  workers  of  iniquity  ?  "  Job  xxxi.  3. 

This  is  adduced  as  proof  of  endless  misery  by  Strong, 
in  his  book  against  Huntington.  Is  it  declared,  that  this 
destruction  is  in  the  future  state  ?  that  this  strange  pun- 
ishment is  beyond  the  grave  ?  No,  not  the  slightest  hint 
of  that  kind  is  given  ;  and  therefore  the  passage  proves 
nothing  in  favor  of  endless  misery. 

XL  "  Thou  hast  rebuked  the  heathen,  thou  hast  destroyed  the 
wicked,  thou  hast  put  out  their  name  forever  and  ever."  Psalms  ix.  5. 

[Strong  and  Dr.  Ely  quote  Psalms  i.  5,  6,  in  proof 
of  endless  misery  ;  but  it  is  unnecessary  to  notice  pas- 
sages that  are  in  their  true  sense  so  obviously  and  utter- 
ly remote  from  the  subject  to  which  they  are  applied.] 

Psalms  ix.  5,  is  adduced  by  Strong  and  Havves. 
The  evident  sense  of  the  passage  is,  thou  hast  destroy- 
ed the  heathen  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth  ;  and  they 
shall  be  remembered  no  more.  A.  Clarke  says,  on 
this  verse,  u  we  know  not  what  this  particularly  refers 
to  ;  but  it  is,  most  probably,  to  the  Canaanitish  nations, 
which  God  destroyed  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth." 
Thou  hast  put  out  their  name  forever,  he  understands- 
to  signify,  that  these  nations  will  never  again  be  restored 
to  Canaan. 

XII.  "  The  wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell,  and  all  the  nations 
that  forget  God."  Psalms  ix.  17. 

Strong,  Hawes,  Lee,  Cooke,  Davis,  Ely,  Stuart, 
and  a  host  of  others  of  like  faith,  agree  in  applying  this 
passage  to  the  subject  of  endless  punishment.  It  is  ev- 
idently regarded  as  one  of  the  strong  proof  texts  of  that 
doctrine. 

But  let  us  be  careful  Does  the  passage  say,  the 
0 


62  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

V  wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell  in  the  future  world  9 
No,  it  does  not.  It  merely  asserts  the  fact,  that  the 
wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell ;  and  it  is  mere  assump- 
tion in  any  writer,  without  offering  proof,  to  consider 
sheol,  in  this  instance,  as  signifying  a  place  of  endless 
punishment.  It  is  taking  for  granted  the  very  point  in 
dispute.  Let  the  believers  in  endless  misery  prove,  if 
'they  can,  that  sheol  signifies  a  place  of  endless  punish- 
ment. 

Dr.  Allen,  then  president  of  Bowdoin  College,  pub- 
lished a  sermon  in  reply  to  Balfour's  u  First  Inquiry  ;" 
but  he  was  constrained  to  confess,  that  Psalms  ix.  17 
could  not  be  justly  considered  as  proving  endless  mise- 
ry. He  said,  "  The  punishment  expressed  is  cutting 
off  from  life,  destroying  from  the  earth,  by  some  special 
judgment,  and  removing  to  the  invisible  state  of  the 
dead.  The  term  (sheol)  does  not  seem  to  mean,  with 
certainty,  any  thing  more  than  the  state  of  the  dead  in 
their  deep  abode."  Dr.  Allen  was  not  a  Universalist ; 
he  was  not  led  by  any  doctrinal  bias  to  come  to  the  con- 
clusion which  he  adopted  ;  indeed,  the  bias  was  all  the 
other  way  ;  but  the  force  of  truth  constrained  him  to 
make  the  above  acknowledgment, 

Those  who  wish  to  see  a  full  explanation  of  this  sub- 
ject, and  its  true  sense  clearly  set  forth,  are  referred  to 
an  article  in  the  "Universalist  Expositor,"  Vol.  IV. 
pp.  65-68.  See  also  "  Ely  and  Thfcmas's  Discus- 
sion," pp.  128,  129  ;  and  Balfour's  "First  Inquiry," 
on  the  passage. 

The  passage  will  bear  a  general  application  to  all 
wicked  men,  although  we  suppose  David  originally 
had  reference  to  the  heathen  nations  with  whom  he  had 
to  contend.  Sheol  is  frequently  used  by  the  sacred 
writers,  as  a  figure  of  darkness,  and  deep  distress  of 
mind,  into  which  sin  always  plunges  the  transgressor. 
In  this  sense  it  may  be  said,  all  the  wicked,  and  all  the 
nations  that  forget  God,  shall  be  turned  into  sheol.  Thus 
David  was  turned  into  hell,  when  he  was  a  sinner. 
Hence  he  said,  "  the  pains  of  hell  gat  hold  upon  me," 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  63 

(Psalms  cxvi.  3.)  which  he  explained  by  adding,  "  T 
found  trouble  and  sorrow."  This  is  precisely  the  Uni- 
versalist's  understanding  of  this  matter.  When  men  dis- 
obey the  commands  of  God,  they  find  trouble  and  sor- 
row,—  the  pains  of  hell  get  hold  upon  them,  —  they 
are  cast  into  sheol.  This  is  a  sense  which  the  word  very 
frequently  bears  in  the  Old  Testament.  When  David, 
by  timely  repentance,  was  delivered  from  his  trouble  and 
sorrow,  he  considered  himself  as  having  been  delivered 
from  sheol,  hell  ;  and  hence,  in  one  place,  he  praises 
God  for  such  a  deliverance.  "  I  will  praise  thee,  O  Lord 
my  God,  and  glorify  thy  name  forevermore,  for  great  is 
thy  mercy  toward  me  ;  and  thou  hast  delivered  my  soul 
from  the  LOWEST  HELL."  (Psalm  Ixxxvi.  12,  13.) 
The  Psalmist  surely  was  in  this  world  when  he  uttered 
these  words  ;  he  had  suffered  the  pains  of  sheol  in  this 
world  ;  he  had  been  delivered  from  the  lowest  sheol 
while  in  this  world.  He  attempted  to  augment  the  force 
of  the  word  sheol,  —  the  lowest  sheol,  —  which  added 
to  the  power  of  the  description.  He  was  plunged  into 
the  deepest  sorrow,  the  lowest  depression  ;  and  that 
state  of  mind  and  heart  is  what  he  intended  by  the 
u  lowest  hell,"  from  which  God  in  mercy  delivered  him. 
A  similar  use  of  the  word,  we  find  in  Jonah  ii.  2.  "I 
cried  by  reason  of  mine  affliction  unto  the  Lord,  and 
he  heard  me  ;  out  of  the  belly  of  (sheol)  hell  cried  I, 
and  thou  heardest  my  voice."  What  did  he  intend  here 
by  the  belly  of  sheol  ?  See  the  1st  verse.  "Then 
Jonah  prayed  unto  the  Lord  his  God  out  of  the  fish's 
belly."  God  had  cast  him  into  the  deep,  in  the  midst 
of  the  seas  ;  and  the  floods  compassed  him  about,  the 
billows  and  waves  passed  over  him.  He  had  been 
swallowed  by  a  great  fish,  and  had  been  in  the  belly  of 
the  fish  three  days  and  three  nights.  This  was  the 
hell,  or  sheo^  out  of  which  he  cried,  and  from  which 
God  delivered  him. 

This  is  all  we  think  it  necessary  to  say,  on  Psalms 
ix.  17.  Before  this  passage  can  be  adduced  in  proof 
of  endless  punishment,  it  must  be  proved  beyond  all 


64  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

dispute,  that  sheol,  in  this  instance,  refers  to  a  state  of 
misery  beyond  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

XIII.  "  Upon  the  wicked   he  shall   rain   snares,  fire   and  brim- 
stone, and  a  horrible  tempest ;  this  shall  be  the  portion  of  their  cup." 
Psalms  xi.  6. 

Several  of  the  principal  defenders  of  endless  misery 
quote  this,  viz.  Strong,  Davis,  Hawes,  Ely,  and  oth- 
ers. But  what  proof  does  it  afford  of  the  doctrine  of 
endless  misery  ?  Is  there  the  least  intimation  given, 
that  this  punishment  was  to  be  poured  out  in  the  future 
state  ?  David  was  justified,  by  his  knowledge  of  sa- 
cred history,  in  using  the  above  language  as  descriptive 
of  the  punishment  of  sinners  in  this  life.  God  had 
punished  sinners  in  this  world,  before  David  was  born, 
in  the  manner  referred  to  by  him.  u  The  Lord  rained 
upon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  brimstone  and  fire  from 
the  Lord  out  of  heaven  ;  arid  he  overthrew  those  cities, 
and  all  the  plain,  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  cities, 
and  that  which  grew  upon  the  ground."  Now  here  is 
an  instance  in  which  the  language  of  the  passage  before 
us,  was  literally  fulfilled  in  this  world.  Dr.  Clarke  says 
of  these  words,  u  This  is  a  manifest  allusion  to  the  de- 
struction of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah."  Com.  on  Psa. 
xi.  6.  Before  we  can  allow  that  the  above  passage 
refers  to  a  future  state  of  punishment,  we  must  see 
some  proof  of  it.  It  seems  to  us,  the  evidence  is  all 
on  the  other  side. 

XIV.  "Arise,  O  Lord,  disappoint  him,  cast  him  down  ;  deliver  my 
soul  from  the  wicked,  which  is  thy  sword ;  from  men  which  are  thy 
hand,  O  Lord,  from  men  of  the  world,  which  have  their  portion  in 
this  life."     Psalms  xvii.  13,  14. 

Andrew  Fuller,  President  Edwards,  J.  M.  Davis, 
and  many  others,  adduce  this  as  proof  of  endless  pun- 
ishment. The  argument  is  this  ;  if  men  of  the  world 
have  their  portion  in  this  life,  there  will  be  no  happi- 
ness for  them  after  death.  But  try  this  argument  on 
the  other  side.  If  "  men  of  the  world,"  i.  e.  wicked 
men,  have  their  portion  in  this  life,  there  will  be  no 
misery  for  them  after  death.  Why  is  not  this  inference 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  65 

as  good  as  the  other  ?  The  plain  question  is,  what  is 
the  portion  of  the  wicked  ?  Look  at  the  passage  under 
section  XIII.  "  Upon  the  wicked  he  shall  rain  snares, 
fire  and  brimstone,  and  a  horrible  tempest ;  this  shall 
be  the  portion  of  their  cup."  Well,  where  do  they 
get  this  portion?  Ans.  "  In  this  life,"  according  to 
the  passage  we  are  now  considering.  We  read  in  Job, 
u  This  is  the  portion  of  a  wicked  man  from  God,  and 
the  heritage  appointed  unto  him  by  God."  xx.  29. 
Now  let  any  one  read  the  preceding  verses,  viz.  4-28, 
and  he  will  see  that  it  is  trouble  and  sorrow  upon  the 
earth,  which  is  declared  to  be  the  portion  of  a  wick- 
ed man  from  God.  Eternal  torments  in  hell  is  the 
portion  denounced  on  the  wicked  by  uninspired  men ; 
but  trouble  and  sorrow  in  this  life  u  is  the  portion  of  a 
wicked  man  from  God,  and  the  heritage  appointed  unto 
him  by  God."  Job  himself  says  of  the  wicked,  "  their 
portion  is  cursed  in  the  earth."  xxiv.  18.  Isaiah  says, 
"  God  shall  rebuke  them,  and  they  shall  flee  far  off, 
and  shall  be  chased  as  the  chaff  of  the  mountains  before 
the  wind,  and  like  a  rolling  thing  before  the  whirlwind. 
And  behold,  at  evening-tide  trouble  ;  and  before  the 
morning  he  is  not.  This  is  the  portion  of  them  that 
spoil  us,  and  the  lot  of  them  that  rob  us."  xvii.  13,  14. 
Was  not  this  portion  in  this  life  ?  It  was  said  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  "  Let  his  portion  be  with  the  beasts 
in  the  grass  of  the  earth."  Daniel  iv.  15,  23.  See 
also,  Matt.  xxiv.  51,  Luke  xii.  46. 

The  poriion  of  a  righteous  man  is  directly  of  an  op- 
posite nature.  He  trusts  in  God.  "  The  Lord  is  the 
portion  of  mine  inheritance."  Psalms  xvi.  5,  Ixxiii. 
26,  cxix.  57,  "I  cried  unto  thee,  O,  Lord  ;  I  said, 
thou  art  my  refuge  and  my  portion  in  the  land  of  the 
living."  cxlii.  5.  Lamen.  iii.  24. 

Warburton  is  clearly  of  opinion,  that  this  passage 
(Psa.  xvii.  13,  14)  has  no  reference  to  the  future  state. 
See  Div.  Leg.  Book  vi.  Sec.  3  ;  and  Dr.  A.  Clarke 
gives  the  passage  a  similar  interpretation  in  that  respect. 
See  his  Com.  on  the  place. 
6* 


66  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

XV.  "  But  the  wicked  shall  perish;  and  the  enemies  of  the  Lord 
shall  be  as  the  fat  of  lambs ;  they  shall  consume;  into  smoke  shall 
they  consume  away."  Psalms  xxxvii.  20.  "  The  transgressors  shall 
be  destroyed  together;  the  end  of  the  wicked  shall  be  cut  off" 
Ver.  38. 

Strong  and  Hawes,  with  several  others,  adduce 
these  passages  as  proof  of  endless  misery.  But  how 
weak  are  such  attempts  to  sustain  that  cruel  and  un- 
scriptural  doctrine  !  This  is  the  common  language 
employed  by  the  sacred  writers  to  describe  the  trouble 
and  vanity  of  wicked  men  in  this  life.  "When  it 
goeth  well  with  the  righteous,  the  city  rejoiceth  ;  and 
when  the  wicked  perish  there  is  shouting."  Prov.  xi. 
10.  Shall  this  be  fulfilled  in  the  immortal  state'?  or 
does  it  take  place  in  this  world  ?  The  sinful  prodigal 
perished  when  he  left  his  father's  house.  Luke  xv.  11. 
The  scriptural  sense  of  the  word  perish  is  to  sink,  to 
fail,  to  be  overcome,  to  be  driven  away,  to  be  disap- 
pointed, to  be  slain  in  battle,  &c.  &c.  All  these 
things  happen  to  the  wicked  in  the  present  life.  The 
word  consume  has  the  same  sense.  "  I  will  consume 
them  by  the  sword,  and  by  the  famine,  and  by  the  pes- 
tilence." Jer.  xiv.  12.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the 
phrase  destroy.  Thus  Moses  describes  God's  over- 
throw of  the  Egyptian  hosts.  "In  the  greatness  of 
thy  excellency  thou  hast  overthrown  them  that  rose  up 
against  thee ;  thou  sentest  forth  thy  wrath  which  con- 
sumed them  as  stubble.  *****  My  lust  shall  be 
satisfied  upon  them  ;  I  will  draw  my  sword,  my  hand 
shall  destroy  them."  Exodus  xv.  7-9.  This  is  ex- 
plained further  by  ver.  10.  "  Thou  didst  blow  with 
thy  wind,  the  sea  covered  them  ;  they  sank  as  lead  in 
the  mighty  waters." 

How  can  it  be  doubted,  that  all  the  terms  employed 
in  the  passage  before  us,  are  used  by  the  sacred  writers 
to  describe  the  overthrow  and  punishment  of  the  wick- 
ed in  the  present  life  ? 

We  call  upon  the  writers  who  adduce  these  passages 
in  support  of  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery,  to  bring 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  67 

forward  some  text  like  this  :  The  wicked  shall  perish 
in  the  immortal  state  ;  into  smoke  shall  they  consume 
away  in  the  immortal  state  ;  the  transgressors  shall  be 
destroyed   beyond  the  grave  ;  the   end  of  the   wicked 
shall  be  cut  off  in  eternity.     They  ought  at  least  to 
adduce  one  passage  which  speaks  of  the  punishment  of 
the  wicked,  in  which  it  is  evident  the  punishment  mustv 
necessarily  be  confined  to  the  immortal  existence.    We  % 
ask  for  one  such  text. 

XVI.  "  Like  sheep  they  are  laid  in  the  grave;  death  shall  feed  on 
them  ;  and  the  upright  shall  have  dominion  over  them  in  the  morn- 
ing ;  and  their  beauty  shall  consume  in  the  grave  from  their  dwel- 
ling.    But  God  will  redeem  my  soul  from  the  power  of  the  grave ; 
for  he  shall  receive  me."     Psalms  xlix.  14,  15. 

This  text  is  adduced  by  Parsons  Cooke  to  prove 
endless  misery.  Is  there  one  word  intimated  in  regard 
to  punishment  after  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  ?  Not 
a  syllable.  A  careful  observer  of  Old  Testament 
phraseology,  will  be  unwilling  to  adduce  a  passage  like 
this  in  proof  of  endless  punishment.  Warburton  says, 
"  The  literal  meaning  of  this  passage  is,  as  appears  by 
the  context,  that  the  wicked  should  be  untimely  cut  off 
and  destroyed,  — in  the  morning,  that  is,  by  the  judg- 
ment of  the  law,  which  was  administered  in  the  morn- 
ing hours  ;  but  that  his  [the  Psalmist's]  life,  and  the 
life  of  the  upright,  should  be  preserved  and  prolonged. 
Here,  once  for  all,  let  me  desire  the  objectors  to  consid- 
er, what  it  is  that  is  ever  opposed  in  the  many  places 
of  this  sort  to  life,  redemption,  &c.  It  is  not  misery, 
torments,  &c.,  as  it  must  have  been,  did  life  literally 
signify  eternal  life  in  a  future  state  ;  but  it  is  death, 
which  shows  it  was  a  life  here  on  earth."  Divine  Le- 
gation, Book  vi.  Sec.  3. 

XVII.  "  Now  consider  this,  ye  that  forget  God,  lest  I  tear  you  in 
pieces,  and  there  be  none  to  deliver."     Psalms  1.  22. 

Is  there  the  slightest  proof  that  this  refers  to  the  fu- 
ture state  of  existence  ?  Not  at  all ;  yet  J.  M.  Da- 
vis, Hawes,  and  many  others,  adduce  the  passage  as 
positive  proof  of  endless  suffering.  Men  certainly 


68  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

forget  God  in  this  life  ;  and  both  literally  and  metaphor- 
ically, they  get  torn  to  pieces  in  this  life,  when  there  is 
none  to  deliver.  The  author  of  the  book  of  Lamen- 
tations says,  "  He  hath  turned  aside  my  ways,  and 
pulled  me  in  pieces  :  he  hath  made  me  desolate."  iii. 
11.  To  be  torn  in  pieces  is  a  metaphor  signifying  to 
be  crushed^  to  be  put  down,  to  be  utterly  oppressed. 

XVIII.  "  As  smoke  is  driven  away,  so  drive  them  away  ;  as  wax 
melteth  before  the  fire,  so  let  the  wicked  perish  in  the  presence  of 
God."  Psalms  Ixviii.  2. 

Dr.  Strong  adduces  this  text  in  proof  of  endless 
torments.  But  is  there  the  slightest  proof  that  the 
punishment  here  described  is  to  be  inflicted  in  the  im- 
mortal existence  ?  Are  not  these  metaphors  of  pre- 
cisely the  same  character  with  those  we  have  noticed  in 
other  passages,  and  shown  to  be  applied  to  punishments 
in  this  life  ?  What  more,  then,  is  it  necessary  for  us  to 
say  ?  Will  the  caviller  pretend,  that  because  the  wick- 
ed are  to  perish  in  the  presence  of  God,  therefore  their 
punishment  must  be  in  the  future  state  ?  If  this  posi- 
tion be  assumed,  then  we  say  the  objector  is  ignorant 
of  the  scriptural  sense  of  the  phrase  "  presence  of  the 
Lord."  See  the  following  texts.  "Cain  went  out 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  dwelt  in  the  land 
of  Nod."  Gen.  iv.  16.  Was  the  land  of  Nod  in  this 
world  ?  God  said  to  Moses,  when  he  was  on  his  way 
to  Canaan,  "  My  presence  shall  go  with  thee,  and  I 
will  give  thee  rest."  Exodus  xxxiii.  14,  and  Moses 
replied,  u  If  thy  presence  go  not  with  me,  carry  us 
not  up  hence."  Ver.  15.  See  also,  1  Chron.  xvi.  27, 
33.  Psalms  xcv.  2,  xcvii.  5,  c.  2,  cxiv.  7.  Jer.  iv. 
26.  Jonah  i.  3,  10.  The  presence  of  God  was  in  the 
ark  ;  it  was  afterwards  in  the  temple  upon  Mount  Zi- 
on  ;  and,  in  the  same  sense,  it  is  in  any  place  where 
God  makes  himself  known,  and  reveals  his  power  and 
glory  to  the  children  of  men.  Acts  x.  33. 

XIX.   PSALM  Ixxiii. 

The  whole  of  the  seventy-third  Psalm  is  relied  on 
by  a  few  authors,  to  prove  the  doctrine  of  endless  mis- 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  69 

ery.  After  having  quoted  three  or  four  verses  from 
this  Psalm,  Luther  Lee  remarks  ;  "  This  is  their 
end,  which  the  Psalmist  learned  in  the  sanctuary 
of  God,  and  if  their  end  is  to  be  cast  down  into  de- 
struction, and  to  be  utterly  consumed  with  terrors,  they 
cannot  be  saved."  Such  is  Mr.  Lee's  argument.  It 
proceeds  on  this  false  assumption,  that,  by  the  end  of 
the  wicked,  is  meant  their  endless  destiny  in  the  immor- 
tal state.  We  deny  that  position.  We  say,  by  the 
end  of  the  wicked,  in  that  place,  nothing  relating  to 
their  eternal  destiny  was  intended.  Take  one  passage 
in  proof  of  this,  out  of  fifty  which  we  might  quote  ; 
"  Son  of  man,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God  unto  the  land 
of  Israel ;  an  end,  the  end  is  come  upon  the  four  cor- 
ners of  the  land.  Now  is  the  end  come  upon  thee,  and 
I  will  send  mine  anger  upon  thee,  and  will  judge  thee  ac- 
cording  to  thy  ways,  and  will  recompense  upon  thee  all 
thine  abominations."  "  An  end  is  come,  the  end  is 
come  ;  it  watcheth  for  thee  ;  BEHOLD,  IT  is  COME  !" 
&c.  &c.  Ezek.  vii.  1-15.  Now,  this  was  the  end 
of  the  wicked  of  which  Ezekiel  spoke  ;  and,  so  far 
from  putting  it  in  the  future  state,  he  said,  "BEHOLD,  IT 
is  COME  !  "  Let  Mr.  Lee,  or  any  other  writer,  ad- 
duce a  passage  which  sjates,  that  the  end  of  the  wicked 
is  destruction  in  the  immortal  state,  and  then  he  will  do 
something  to  his  purpose. 

XX.    "  The  Lord  preserveth  all  them  that  love  him  ;  but  all  the 
wicked  will  he  destroy."     Psalm  cxlv.  20. 

This  text  is  adduced  by  Strong,  and  some  others,  in 
proof  of  endless  misery.  But  what  possible  proof 
does  it  furnish  ?  Does  it  say,  that  God  will  destroy 
the  wicked  in  the  future  state  9  It  says  nothing  of  the 
kind.  Now,  that  is  the  very  thing  to  be  proved. 
Is  it  intimated,  that  this  destruction  is  endless  ?  Not 
at  all.  Is  the  least  reference  made  here  to  the  immortal 
condition  of  man  in  any  way  ?  Certainly  not.  It  is 
useless,  then,  to  adduce  the  passage  as  proof  of  endless 
misery. 


70  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

XXI.  "  1  also  will  laugh  at  your  calamity  ;  I  will  mock  when 
your  fear  cometh;  when  your  fear  cometh  as  a  desolation,  and  your  de- 
struction cometh  as  a  whirlwind  ;  when  distress  and  anguish  cometh 
upon  you.  Then  shall  they  call  upon  me,  but  I  will  not  answer ; 
they  shall  seek  me  early,  but  they  shall  not  find  me."  Prov.  i. 
26-29. 

This  seems  to  be  a  prominent  text  with  the  believers 
in  endless  misery.  Edwards,  Davis,  Strong,  Hawes, 
Lee,  and  almost  every  other  writer  who  has  defended 
endless  misery,  has  adduced  it  for  that  purpose. 
Against  this  array  of  authority,  we  bring  forward  the 
simplicity  of  divine  truth. 

We  object  to  the  common  interpretation  of  this  pas- 
sage, —  that  there  is  not  the  least  reference  in  the  pas- 
sage, to  the  immortal  existence  ;  there  is  no  reference 
to  physical  death,  no  reference  to  the  subsequent  resur- 
rection, no  reference  to  eternity.  If  there  be  such  ref- 
erence, let  it  be  pointed  out.  The  common  under- 
standing is,  that  this  language  is  to  be  addressed  by  Je- 
hovah to  the  sinner  at  the  day  of  judgment.  But,  that 
this  supposition  is  not  correct,  see  the  20th  verse. 
u  Wisdom  crieth  without,  she  uttereth  her  voice  in  the 
streets,-"  &c.  And  then,  "  Because  I  [wisdom] 
have  called  and  ye  refused,  I  have  stretched  out  my 
hand  and  no  man  regarded  ;  but  ye  have  set  at  nought 
all  my  [wisdom's]  counsel,  and  would  none  of  my  [wis- 
dom's] reproof;  I  also  will  laugh  at  your  calamity," 
&c.  Here,  we  see,  it  is  wisdom  personified,  that  ad- 
dresses the  children  of  men  in  this  manner.  Wisdom 
says  to  every  man,  if  you  do  not  attend  to  my  words, 
and  give  heed  to  my  counsels,  I  shall  not  assist  you  in 
the  day  of  your  sorrows.  You  will  call  upon  me  then, 
but  I  cannot  benefit  you  ;  because  you  have  slighted 
my  reproof.  The  experience  of  every  foolish  man 
proves  the  truth  of  Solomon's  words.  Even  if  fools 
prosper,  it  is  but  for  a  moment;  for  "  the  prosperity 
of  fools  shall  destroy  them."  ver.  32. 

Dr.  Adam  Clarke  honestly  confesses,  in  the  same 
paragraph  in  which  he  insists  most  earnestly  upon  the 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  71 

endless  damnation  of  the  sinner,  that  the  passage  we 
are  considering  has  no  reference  to  the  eternal  state  of 
men.  u  Nor  can  any  thing  spoken  here  be  considered 
as  applying,  or  applicable,  to  the  eternal  state  of 
the  persons  in  question  ;  much  less  to  the  case  of  any 
man  convinced  of  sin,  who  is  crying  to  God  for 
mercy."  Com.  on  the  place. 

XXII.  "  Her  feet  go  down  to  death ;  her  steps  take  hold  on  hell." 
Prov.  v.  5. 

Here  we  have  an  instance  of  the  parallelism  which 
we  so  frequently  meet  with  in  Hebrew  poetry.  The 
same  truth  is  stated  in  both  parts  of  the  verse.  "  Her  feet 
go  down  to  death  ;  her  steps  take  hold  on  (sheol)  Ac//." 
Here  death  and  sheol,  or  hell,  are  used  in  precisely  the 
same  sense.  The  sense  of  the  passage  is,  that  the  so- 
ciety of  a  lewd  woman,  of  whom  Solomon  was  speak- 
ing, would  bring  a  man  to  an  early,  sudden,  or  ignomin- 
ious death.  Prof.  Stuart's  remarks  are  very  reasonable 
on  this  point.  He  says  ;  "  To  die,  in.  the  usual  man- 
ner, is  not  a  special  penalty  of  wickedness  ;  and,  there- 
fore, the  threats  of  death,  directed  against  particular 
acts  of  wickedness,  can  never  be  rationally  regarded  as 
having  reference  to  any  thing  but  sudden,  premature, 
and  violent  death.  That  c  the  wicked  shall  not  live 
put  half  their  days,'  is  an  assurance,  repeated  in  many 
forms,  and  in  a  great  variety  of  ways,  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament scriptures.  In  this  point  of  view,  it  is  pos- 
sible, I  concede,  to  interpret  all  the  texts  which  exhibit 
sheol  as  having  a  reference  merely  to  the  grave  ;  and, 
therefore,  it  is  possible  to  interpret  such  ones  as  Prov. 
v.  5  ;  ix.  18,  and  xxiii.  14,  as  designating  a  death  vio- 
lent and  premature,  inflicted  by  the  hand  of  heaven." 
Exeget.  Essays,  p.  3. 

XXIII.  "  When  a  wicked  man  dieth,  his  expectation  shall  perish ; 
and  the  hope  of  unjust  men  perisheth."     Prov.  xi.  7. 

This  is  one  of  the  texts  frequently  adduced  in  proof 
of  endless  misery  ;  Edwards,  Davis,  Strong,  Hawes, 
and  many  others,  quote  it  for  that  purpose.  There  is 
no  truth  more  frequently  or  more  clearly  declared  in  the 


72  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

word  of  God,  than  that  the  expectations  of  the  wicked 
shall  perish.  The  hopes  of  wicked  men  are  principally 
placed  on  the  present  life.  They  hope  for  great  hap- 
piness, for  plenty,  for  long  life  ;  but  their  wickedness 
frequently  cuts  short  their  existence,  and  all  their  ex- 
pectations flee  away  at  once.  The  passage  has  no  ref- 
erence to  the  future  state.  Warburton  says,  on  this 
text;  "-It  appears  by  the  context,  (that  is,  by  the 
whole  tenor  of  these  moral  precepts  and  aphorisms,) 
that  the  expectation  which  should  deceive  is  that  of 
worldly,- wicked  men  to  establish  themselves  in  their 
prosperity."  Divine  Legation,  Book  vi.  Sec.  3. 

XXIV.  "  The  wicked  is  driven  away  in  his  wickedness  ;  but  the 
righteous  hath  hope  in  his  death  "     Prov.  xiv.  32. 

This  passage  is  almost  precisely  of  the  same  import 
with  the  one  we  last  considered.  The  wicked  is 
driven  away  in  his  wickedness,  that  is,  he  finds  no 
stability  in  iniquity  ;  he  is  like  the  chaff,  which  the 
wind  driveth  away.  But  does  the  passage  assert,  that 
the  wicked  are  driven  into  endless  punishment  ?  No  ; 
it  asserts  nothing  of  the  kind.  In  order  to  express  the 
common  doctrine  which  is  inferred  from  this  passage,  it 
should  read,  "  the  wicked  is  driven  into  endless  pun- 
ishment in  the  future  world  ; "  but  as  nothing  of  that 
kind  is  said,  so  we  presume  nothing  like  it  is  meant. 
Warburton  says,  concerning  the  above  passage  ;  "  The 
righteous  hath  hope  that  he  shall  be  delivered  from  the 
most  imminent  dangers.  So  the  Psalmist  ;  c  upon  them 
that  hope  in  his  mercy,  to  deliver  their  soul  from  death, 
and  to  keep  them  alive  in  famine.'  And  again  ;  '  thou 
hast  delivered  my  soul  from  death  ;  wilt  not  thou  de- 
liver my  feet  from  falling,  that  I  may  walk  before  God 
in  the  light  of  the  living.'  "  Divine  Legation,  Book  vi. 
Sec.  3. 

XXV.  "  For  there  shall  be  no  reward  to  the  evil  man  ;  the  candle 
of  the  wicked  shall  be  put  out."    Prov.  xxiv.  20. 

As  strange  as  it  may  seem,  yet  Strong  and  Hawes 
both  adduce  this  passage  in  proof  of  endless  punishment. 
Is  there  the  least  reference  here  to  the  immortal  exis- 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  73 

tence  ?  Not  at  all.  Do  not  the  wicked  frequently  find 
punishment  in  this  world  ?  Is  not  their  candle  frequent- 
ly put  out  here  ?  Are  they  not  in  darkness  here  ? 

XXVI.  "  He  that,  being  often  reproved,  hardeneth  his  neck,  shall 
suddenly  be  destroyed,  and  that  without  remedy."  Prov.  xxix.  1. 

Almost  all  the  defenders  of  endless  misery  quote  this 
text.  But  there  are  several  particulars  which  ought 
to  be  clearly  expressed  in  this  text,  in  order  to  give  it 
power  to  support  a  hereafter,  endless  punishment,  which 
are  not  thus  expressed.  1 .  That  the  destruction  here 
meant  is  in  a  future  state.  Of  this,  the  text  says  noth- 
ing. 2.  That  one  destroyed,  in  a  scripture  sense,  can- 
not find  help,  or  deliverance.  This  is  not  stated  in  the 
text.  If  it  be  said,  the  text  says,  "  without  remedy," 
it  may  be  replied,  that  this  may  mean  no  more,  than  that 
the  destruction  in  the  case  pointed  out  cannot  be  pre- 
vented ;  or  it  may  mean,  that  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
destruction  takes  place,  restoration  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected. The  house  of  Israel  may  be  considered  as  an 
example  of  our  subject.  God  was  pleased  to  reprove 
them  often  by  his  prophets,  but  no  people  were  ever 
more  hardened,  or  more  miserably  destroyed.  The 
prophet  Hosea  says,  xiii.  9,  "  O  Israel,  thou  hast  de- 
stroyed thyself ;  but  in  me  is  thine  help."  Thus  we 
see  sinners  may  be  destroyed,  and  yet  afterwards  find 
help  in  the  Lord. 

XXVII.  "For  God  shall  bring  every  work  into  judgment,  with 
every  secret  thing,  whether  it  be  good,  or  whether  it  be  evil.'  Eccl. 
xii.  14. 

And  here  we  inquire,  as  we  have  done  in  many  other 
cases,  is  the  least  reference  made  to  the  future  state 
of  existence  ?  Is  it  said,  "  God  shall  bring  every  work 
into  judgment  "  in  the  future,  immortal  existence  ?  No 
such  statement  is  made.  The  Saviour  said,  when  on 
earth,  "  Now  is  the  judgment  of  this  world,"  John  xii. 
31  ;  "for  judgment  I  am  come  into  this  world,"  ix. 
39  ;  "  verily  he  is  a  God  that  judgeth  in  the  earth," 
Psalms  Iviii.  11.  In  the  light  which  these  passages, 
7 


74  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UN1VERSALISM. 

and  many  similar  ones  that  we  might  quote,  shed  upon 
this  passage,  how  can  it  be  maintained,  that  Solomon 
was  speaking  of  a  judgment  in  the  future  state  ?  See 
Prov.  xi.  31. 

XXVJII.  "  Who  among  us  shall  dwell  with  the  devouring  fire? 
who  among  us  shall  dwell  with  everlasting  burnings  ?  "  Isaiah  xxxiii. 
14. 

What  fire  was  here  referred  to  ?  The  preceding 
words  are,  "  The  sinners  in  Zion  are  afraid  ;  fearful- 
ness  hath  surprised  the  hypocrites.'7  What  is  more 
likely,  then,  than  that  the  fire  in  Zion  is  referred  to  ? 
"  The  Lord's  fire  is  in  Zion,  and  his  furnace  in  Jerusa- 
lem." Isaiah  xxxi.  9.  See  also  Ezek.  xxii.  17-22.  It 
is  true,  the  term  "  everlasting  burnings  "  occurs;  but 
the  term  everlasting  proves  not  that  these  burnings  are  in 
the  future  state,  for  it  was  the  custom  of  the  Hebrew 
writers  to  apply  the  term  here  rendered  everlasting  to 
things  of  a  temporal  nature,  as  the  possession  of  Ca- 
naan by  the  Jews  (Gen.  xvii.  8,  xlviii.  4)  ;  the  hills 
(Gen.  xlix.  26)  ;  the  Levitical  priesthood  (Exodus 
xl.  15,  Numbers  xxv.  13)  ;  the  statutes  of  Moses 
(Lev.  xvi.  34);  the  mountains  (Hab.  iii.  6).  "  The 
Lord's  fire  is  in  Zion."  "  Who  among  us,"  says  the 
prophet,  u  shall  dwell  with  devouring  fire  ?  "  He  goes 
on  to  answer  the  question,  and  show  who  shall  dwell 
with  the  devouring  fire.  "  He  that  walketh  righteously, 
and  speaketh  uprightly  ;  he  that  despiseth  the  gain  of  op- 
pressions," &c.  Such  were  to  dwell  with  the  "  devour- 
ing fire  ; "  that  is,  not  in  an  endless  hell  in  the  future  state  ; 
but  they  were  to  dwell  in  the  midst  of  the  fiery  afflic- 
tions that  God  sent  upon  his  rebellious  people,  and  were 
not  to  be  injured  by  them.  This  is  implied  in  the  ques- 
tion, uwho  shall  dwell  with  the  devouring  fire  ?  "  that 
is,  live  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  not  be  destroyed  by  it.  So 
saith  the  very  learned  Dr.  Lightfoot.  "  Who  among  us 
shall  dwell  with  the  devouring  fire  ?  Who  shall  dwell  with 
everlasting  burnings  ?  "  Yes,  in  the  next  verse,  he  that 
walketh  righteously,  and  speaketh  uprightly,  and  despis- 
eth the  gain  of  oppressions  ;  that  shaketh  his  hands  from 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  75 

holding  of  bribes,"  &c.,  such  a  one  shall  dwell  with 
the  devouring  fire,  and  it  shall  not  touch  him  ;  as  the 
fiery  furnace  did  not  touch  a  hair  of  the  three  children. 
But  look  at  the  beginning  of  verse  14.  u  The  sinners 
in  Zion  are  afraid  ;  fearfulness  hath  surprised  the  hypo- 
crites ;  who  shall  dwell  with  the  devouring  fire  ?  &c. 
Not  they  ;  but  they  shall  be  destroyed  and  devoured  by 
that  consuming  fire  ;  as  those  that  cast  -the  three  chil- 
dren into  the  furnace  were  consumed  by  the  fire, 
though  they  came  not  into  it."  (Works,  V.  324,  325.) 
So  we  see  it  was  evidently  the  opinion  of  Lightfoot, 
that  the  devouring  fire  was  the  indignation  with  which 
God  visited  his  rebellious  people  in  Zion,  which  should 
devour  the  hypocrites  and  sinners,  but  in  which  the 
righteous  should  dwell  without  being  harmed. 

XXIX.  "  And  many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth 
shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame  and  ever- 
lasting contempt."  Dan.  xii.  2. 

As  it  is  contended  by  some,  that  a  general  and  lite- 
ral resurrection  of  all  the  dead  is  taught  in  this  passage, 
it  may  be  useful  to  examine  its  phraseology  a  little. 
We  find,  then,  to  "  repent  in  dust  and  ashes,"  to  be 
"  bowed  down  to  the  dust,"  to  "  lick  the  dust,"  with 
similar  phraseology,  are  modes  of  speaking  which  ex-  a 
press  a  humble,  subjected,  and  even  degraded  condi-  . 
tion,  —  see  Job  xlii.  6  ;  Isaiah  xlvii.  1  ;  Nahum  iii. 
18  ;  Psalm  xliv.  25,  and  cix.  25  ;  Isaiah  xxv.  12,  and 
xxvi.  5.  As  a  contrast  to  these  expressions,  to  "  arise 
from  the  dust,"  to  "  awake  from  the  dust,"  and  to 
"  shake  a  person's  self  from  the  dust,"  are  expressions 
used  to  signify  being  raised  from  a  humble,  subjected, 
degraded  condition,  to  honor  and  happiness.  See  Isa. 
Iii.  2,  xxvi.  19,  1  Sam.  ii.  8,  Psalms  cxiii.  7,  1  Kings 
xvi.  2. 

But  the  phraseology  in  this  passage  is,  to  u  sleep  in 
the  dust  of  the  earth."  The  term  sleep  is  often  used 
to  express  natural  death,  John  xi.  11-14,  with  many 
other  passages.  It  is  also  used  for  natural  sloth  or  in- 
dolence, Prov.  vi.  9-11  and  xxiv.  33,  34.  It  is  also 


76  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNI  VERBALISM. 

used  to  express  a  state  of  national  and  spiritual  sloth, 
stupidity,  and  death.  See  Isaiah  xxix.  10  ;  Rev.  iii. 
1  ;  1  Tim.  v.  8  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  34  ;  Isaiah  ]i.  17.  These 
texts  show,  that  persons  are  said  to  be  asleep  and  dead, 
when  no  one  thinks  natural  sleep  or  death  is  meant. 
To  awake  from  this  state,  is  to  be  brought  into  its  oppo- 
site state,  a  life  of  natural,  moral,  or  spiritual  activity. 
See  Eph.  v.  14,  1  Cor.  xv.  34,  and  Rev.  xx.  5,  12,  13. 
It  is  evident  from  all  the  above  texts,  that  such  language 
is  not  only  used  in  reference  to  individuals,  but  also  na- 
tions. For  example,  Babylon,  Isaiah  xlvii.  1,  Nah.  iii. 
18,  Isaiah  xxv.  12,  and  xxvi.  5.  Also  of  Jerusalem 
or  of  the  Jewish  nation,  Isaiah  Iii.  2.  By  comparing 
1  Kings  xvi.  1  and  xiv.  7,  the  dust  seems  to  mean  the 
common  people,  or  those  in  a  low  condition  ;  and  to  be 
exalted  out  of  the  dust,  is  to  be  raised  to  office  or  pre- 
eminence among  them. 

But  look  at  Dan.  xii.  1,  2,  3,  in  connexion.  "  Arid 
at  that  time  shall  Michael  stand  up,  the  great  prince, 
which  standeth  for  the  children  of  thy  people  ;  and  there 
shall  be  a  time  of  trouble,  such  as  never  was  since  there 
icas  a  nation,  even  to  that  same  time  ;  [see  Matt.  xxiv. 
21  ;]  AT  THAT  TIME  thy  people  shall  be  delivered, 
every  one  that  shall  be  found  written  in  the  book.  And 
many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall 
awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame  and 
everlasting  contempt."  'Compare  verse  7,  10,  11  with 
Matt.  xxiv.  15,  and  no  one,  we  think,  can  fail  to  see, 
that  Jesus  applied  the  language  in  Dan.  xii.  2,  to  the 
destruction  of  the  Jewish  nation  by  Titus.  Our  Sa- 
viour thus  fixes  the  reference  of  Daniel's  language  ;  and 
we  should  be  careful  not  to  contradict  his  testimony. 

Adam  Clarke  was  clearly  of  opinion,  that  this  pas- 
sage referred  to  the  things  of  this  world  ;  although  he 
gives  it  a  spiritual  reference  to  the  general  resurrection. 
But  he  interprets  the  context  generally  as  having  refer- 
ence to  things  of  time.  It  will  be  recollected,  that  Dr. 
Jahn  says  of  this  text,  that  it  is  uncertain  whether  it  re- 
lates to  the  future  state  at  all,  although  it  possibly  may. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  77 

That  deeply  learned  individual,  Grotius,  says,  that  this 
text  is,  in  its  literal  meaning,  a  prophecy  of  the  resto- 
ration of  the  Jewish  government  under  the  Maccabees  ; 
though  he  thinks  it  has  a  spiritual  allusion  to  the  general 
resurrection.  See  Critici  Sacri,  in  Dan.  xii. 

XXX.  "  For  behold  the  day  cometh  that  shall  burn  as  an  oven  ; 
and  all  the  proud,  yea,  and  all  that  do  wickedly,  shall  be  stubble ;  and 
the  day  that  cometh  shall  burn  them  up,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  that  it 
shall  leave  them  neither  root  nor  branch."  Mai.  iv.  1. 

That  the  destruction  of  the  Jews  is  set  forth  under 
the  figure  of  burning,  is  too  palpably  true  to  need  con- 
firnmtion.  Isaiah  xxxi.  9  ;  Ezek.  xxii.  17-22.  So 
evident  is  it  that  this  passage  has  no  reference  to  a  judg- 
ment beyond  the  grave,  that  Dr.  A.  Clarke  abandons 
it  entirely  as  a  proof  of  future  misery.  His  notes  on 
the  passage,  are  the  following.  cc  The  day  cometh  that 
shall  burn  as  an  oven,  —  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
by  the  Romans.  And  all  the  proud,  this  is  in  refer- 
ence to  verse  15,  of  the  preceding  chapter.  The  day 
that  cometh  shall  burn  them  up,  —  either  by  famine,  by 
sword,  or  by  captivity,  all  these  rebels  shall  be  destroy- 
ed. It  shall  leave  them  neither  root  nor  branch  ;  —  a 
proverbial  expression  for  total  destruction,  neither  man 
nor  child  shall  escape."  Com.  on  Mai.  iv.  1.  Thus 
it  will  be  seen,  that  Clarke  applies  the  passage  wholly 
to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PASSAGES  FROM  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  EXPLAINED, 
WHICH  ARE  ADDUCED  TO  DISPROVE  THE  SENTIMENTS 
OF  UNIVERSALISTS. 

I.     "  O  generation  of  vipers,  who  hath  warned  you  to  flee  from 
the  wrath  to  come  ?  "     Matt.  iii.  7. 

The  parallel  passage  is  Luke  iii.  7.     What  is  meant 
here  by  the  u  wrath  to  come  "  ?  Dr.  George  Campbell 

7* 


78  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

translates  the  phrase,  "  the  impending  vengeance,"  and 
says  it  signified  the  u  wrath  about  to  come,"  which  was 
then  very  near,  and  just  ready  to  break  forth  upon  the 
Jewish  nation.  By  the  consent  of  the  best  of  the 
commentators,  who  themselves  believed  in  endless  mis- 
ery, it  refers  to  the  destruction  which  was  about  to  fall 
on  the  Jews.  Adam  Clarke  says,  the  wrath  to  come 
was  "  the  desolation  about  to  fall  on  the  Jewish  nation, 
for  their  wickedness.  *****  This  wrath  or  curse 
was  coming  ;  they  did  not  prevent  it  by  turning  to  God, 
and  receiving  the  Messiah,  and  therefore  the  wrath  of 
God  came  upon  them  to  the  uttermost."  (Corifc  on 
the  place.)  To  the  same  purport  is  Lightfoot's  expo- 
sition (Works,  IV.  264)  ;  and  also  that  of  Bp.  Pearce 
(Com.  on  the  place)  ;  that  of  Dr.  Hammond  (Par. 
and  Annot.  on  the  place),  and  of  Dr.  Gill  (Expos, 
on  the  place),  and  many  others.  It  is  not  necessary 
for  us  to  occupy  much  room  in  proving  that  this  is  the 
true  definition  of  this  passage,  since  the  fact  is  so  gen- 
erally conceded  by  the  commentators  who  believed  in 
the  doctrine  of  endless  misery. 

See  tc  Notes  and  Illus.  of  Parables,"  35,  36,  and 
Paige's  "  Selections,"  Sec.  II. 

II.  "  Whose  fan  is  in  his  hand,  and  he  will  thoroughly  purge  his 
floor,  and  gather  his  wheat  into  the  garner,  but  he  will  burn  up  the 
chaff  with  unquenchable  fire."  Matt.  iii.  12.  Luke  iii.  17. 

This  is  a  continuation  of  the  same  subject  mentioned 
in  Matt.  iii.  7,  (which  we  have  already  considered,) 
and  also  in  ver.  10.  We  offer  the  remarks  of  Adam 
Clarke,  as  expressing  the  true  view  of  the  passage. 
Whose  fan  is  in  his  hand.  The  Romans  are  here 
termed  God's  fan,  as  in  ver.  10  they  were  called  his 
axe,  and  in  chap.  xxii.  7,  they  are  termed  his  troops  or 
armies.  His  floor.  Does  not  this  mean  the  land  of 
Judea,  which  has  been  long,  as  it  were,  the  threshing- 
floor  of  the  Lord.  God  says  he  will  now,  by  the 
winnowing  fan,  (viz.  the  Romans,)  thoroughly  cleanse 
this  floor,  —  the  wheat,  those  who  believe  in  the  Lord 
Jesus,  he  will  gather  into  his  garner,  either  take  to 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  79 

heaven,  from  the  evil  to  come,  or  put  in  a  place  of 
safety,  as  he  did  the  Christians,  by  sending  them  to 
Pella  in  Coelosyria,  previously  to  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem.  But  he  will  burn  up  the  chaff,  the  disobe- 
dient and  rebellious  Jews,  who  would  not  come  unto 
Christ,  that  they  might  have  life."  Com.  on  the  pas- 
sage. See  Paige's  "  Selections,"  pp.  29-32,  for  fur- 
ther authorities. 

The  phrase  "  unquenchable  fire,"  has  been  by  some 
adduced  to  prove  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery.  The 
fire  mentioned  in  the  passage,  is  the  fire  of  divine  judg- 
ment, which  God  sent  upon  the  land  of  Judea,  and  it 
was  called  unquenchable,  not  because  it  would  burn 
forever,  but  because  it  could  not  be  extinguished,  and 
would  continue  until  the  material  on  which  it  fed  should 
be  entirely  destroyed.  So  saith  Dr.  Hammond.  u  They 
put  fire  to  the  chaff  at  the  wind  side,  and  that  keeps  on, 
and  never  gives  over  till  it  has  consumed  all  the  chaff,  and 
so  is  a  kind  of  unquenchable  fire,  a  fire  never  quenched 
till  it  hath  done  its  work."  (Annot.  on  the  place.)  In 
lib.  vi.  c.  41,  of  Eusebius's  History,  there  is  an  ac- 
count of  those  who  suffered  martyrdom  for  Christianity 
in  Alexandria  of  Egypt.  Two  of  these  martyrs,  Cro- 
nion  and  Julian,  says  Eusebius,  were  carried  on  camels 
through  the  city,  scourged,  and  finally  consumed  in 
u  unquenchable  fire,"  nvgl  aa/ftcrrw.  And  again,  he  says, 
other  two,  Epimachus  and  Alexander,  after  intense 
suffering  from  the  scourges  and  scrapers,  were  also  de- 
stroyed in  "  unquenchable  fire,"  nvgl  naftaim.  Here 
the  evident  sense  of  "unquenchable  fire,"  is  fire  that 
should  not  be  extinguished.  If  it  had  been  arrested  in 
its  course,  it  would  not  have  been  unquenchable  ;  but 
it  raged  until  it  went  out  of  itself,  for  the  want  of  fuel, 
and  thus  was  not  quenched.  The  phrase  has  no  refer- 
ence to  punishment  in  the  future  world.  For  a  valua- 
ble treatise  on  this  subject,  see  "  Universalist  Exposi- 
tor," Vol.  IV.  p.  306. 


80  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

III.  "For  I  say  unto  you,  that  except  your  righteousness  shall* 
exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no 
case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Matt.  v.  20. 

What  is  meant  here  by  the  phrase  "  kingdom  of 
heaven  ?  "  It  does  not  refer  to  the  state  of  glory 
which  awaits  us  hereafter,  but  to  the  moral  reign  of 
Christ  in  the  hearts  of  men,  by  the  power  of  his  Gos- 
pel. To  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  was  to  be- 
come a  disciple  of  Jesus,  to  acknowledge  him  as  Lord 
and  kingj  and  to  obey  his  laws.  No  person  whose 
righteousness  was  like  that  of  the  Scribes  and  Phari- 
sees/could  enter,  while  in  such  a  state,  into  the  moral 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah. 

When  John  the  Baptist  began  to  preach,  he  said, 
u  Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 
Matt.  iii.  2.  When  Jesus  began  to  preach,  he  an- 
nounced the  approach  of  his  moral  kingdom  in  the  same 
manner.  "  Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand."  (Matt.  iv.  17.)  In  the  instructions  which 
Jesus  gave  his  apostles,  when  he  sent  them  out,  he  said, 
"  As  ye  go,  preach,  saying,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand."  (Matt.  x.  7.)  His  kingdom  was  not  far  off, 
it  was  at  hand  ;  it  was  not  exclusively  in  another  state 
of  existence,  it  was  here  on  the  earth  ;  it  was  the  moral 
reign  of  Christ  among  men.  Jesus  said  to  the  Phari- 
sees, "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  come  unto  you." 
Matt.  xii.  28.  On  another  occasion  he  said,  "  The 
kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with  observation  ;  neither 
shall  they  say,  Lo  here  !  or  lo  there  !  for  behold  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  within  you,"  or  among  you.  Luke 
xvii.  19,  20.  To  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  was 
to  embrace,  profess,  and  obey  the  Gospel.  Whoso- 
ever did  this  was  under  the  government  of  Christ ;  he 
was  in  the  reign  of  Christ  ;  he  was  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.  And  as  all  the  real  disciples  of  the  Redeemer 
were  saved  from  those  tribulations  which  fell  on  the 
unbelievers  of  that  age,  Jesus  warned  his  followers  that 
no  consideration  whatever  should  induce  them  to  de- 
cline entering  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  81 

Such  was  the  "  kingdom  of  heaven,"  into  which  the 
disciples  were  invited  to  enter.  The  formal,  hypocrit- 
ical righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  would 
not  admit  them  to  that  kingdom  ;  but  the  righteousness 
of  Christ,  which  was  benevolence  and  love,  was  the  re- 
quirement of  the  divine  law. 

For  a  more  extended  view  of  this  subject,  see 
Paige's  "  Selections,"  Section  VII.  and  "  Universalist 
Expositor,"  Vol.  I.  pp.  3-23,  on  the  phrase  "  king- 
dom of  heaven." 

IV.  "  But  I  say  unto  you,  that  whosoever  is  angry  with  his  broth- 
er without  a  cause,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment;  and  whoso- 
ever shall  say  to  his  brother,  Raca,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  council  j 
but  whosoever  shall  say  to  his  brother,  Thou  fool,  shall  be  in  danger 
of  hell  fire."  Matt.  v.  22. 

The  word  here  rendered  hell  is  Gehenna,  yitwu. 
It  is  found  only  in  the  following  places  in  the  New 
Testament,  Matt.  v.  22,  29,  30  ;  x.  28  ;  xviii.  9  ;  xxiii. 
15,  33.  Mark  ix.  43,  45,  47.  Luke  xii.  5.  James 
iii.  6. 

It  will  be  well  to  recollect,  that  these  are  the  only 
instances  in  which  the  word  occurs,  —  that  is,  seven 
times  in  Matthew,  three  in  Mark,  one  in  Luke,  and  one 
in  James.  John,  it  seems,  never  used  the  word,  nor 
does  it  occur  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  nor  in  any 
of  Paul's  epistles,  nor  in  the  epistles  of  Peter,  nor  in 
Jude,  nor  in  the  Apocalypse.  It  is  now  generally  al- 
lowed, that  neither  Sheol,  Hades,  nor  Tartarus  signify 
a  place  of  eternal  punishment ;  but  the  whole  depen- 
dence for  proof  of  such  a  place  of  punishment,  is  placed 
on  the  word  Gehenna.  Is  it  not,  then,  a  little  singu- 
lar, if  this  word  signifies  a  place  of  eternal  punishment, 
that  it  occurs  in  only  four  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  but  twelve  times  in  the  whole  ? 

If  this  passage  is  to  be  understood  in  the  literal  and 
proper  sense,  then  Gehenna  refers  to  the  valley  of 
Hinnom  near  Jerusalem,  where  judicial  punishment  was 
frequently  inflicted  in  the  days  of  Christ.  Adam  Clarke 
says,  "  Our  Lord  here  alludes  to  the  valley  of  the  son 


82  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

of  Hinnom.  This  place  was  near  Jerusalem.  It  is 
very  probable  that  our  Lord  means  no  more  here  than 
this; — if  a  man  charge  another  with  apostasy  from 
the  Jewish  religion,  or  rebellion  against  God,  and  can- 
not prove  his  charge,  then  he  is  exposed  to  that  pun- 
ishment (burning  alive)  which  the  other  must  have  suf- 
fered if  the  charge  had  been  substantiated."  (Com.  on 
Matt.  v.  22.)  Parkhurst  remarks,  "  a  Gehenna  of 
fire,  does,  I  apprehend,  in  its  outward  and  primary 
sense,  relate  to  that  dreadful  doom  of  being  burned 
alive  in  the  valley  of  Hinnom."  See  his  Lex.  on  the 
word. 

During  the  idolatrous  worship  of  the  Jews  in  the 
valley  of  Hinnom,  that  place  was  regarded  by  them  as 
sacred  ;  but  after  this  haunt  of  idolatry  was  broken  up, 
and  made  the  receptacle  of  the  filth  of  Jerusalem,  it 
became  abominable  in  the  sight  of  the  whole  nation. 
In  process  of  time,  as  all  writers  agree,  it  came  to  be 
a  place  of  punishment,  where  criminals  were  caused  to 
suffer  death  by  burning  ;  and  in  reference  to  such  a 
kind  of  punishment,  Jesus  used  the  word,  when  he 
said,  cc  whosoever  shall  say,  Thou  fool,  shall  be  in  dan- 
ger of  a  Gehenna  of  fire,  (translated  in  the  common 
version,  hell-fire,)  in  which  the  Jewish  laws  ordained 
the  burning  of  criminals. 

With  such  abhorrence  and  dread,  under  all  these 
circumstances,  did  the  Jews  in  time  regard  this  place, 
that  they  came  to  use  it  as  a  figure  of  dreadful  woes 
and  judgments  ;  and  so  we  find  it  both  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testament.  Thus  Jeremiah,  chap.  xix.  foretells 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  makes  use  of  To- 
phet,  or  Gehenna,  as  a  figure  of  the  desolations  God 
would  bring  on  that  ill-fated  city.  "  I  will  make  this 
city  desolate,  and  a  hissing  ;  every  one  that  passeth 
thereby  shall  be  astonished  and  hiss,  because  of  all  the 
plagues  thereof,  &c.  Thus  will  I  do  unto  this  place, 
saith  the  Lord,  and  to  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and  EVEN 

MAKE    THIS    CITY    AS     ToPHET."    Verses  8,    12.      See 

also  Jer.  vii.  31  —  34.     This  is  the  metaphorical  sense 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  83 

of  Gehenna,  or  Tophet,  in  the  Old  Testament ;  and 
with  this  knowledge  let  us  turn  to  seek  the  sense 
in  which  it  is  used  in  the  New  Testament.  The  first 
instance  where  we  find  the  word  is  Matt.  v.  22 ; 
u  Whosoever  is  angry  with  his  brother  without  a  cause, 
shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment  ;  and  whosoever 
shall  say  to  his  brother,  Raca,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the 
council ;  but  whosoever  shall  say,  Thou  fool,  shall  be  in 
danger  of  the  fire  of  Gehenna,"  (hell-fire  in  the  com- 
mon translation.)  Now  that  this  cannot  refer  to  a  state 
of  punishment  in  the  future  world,  is  evident  from  the 
terms  of  the  passage.  The  "  JUDGMENT  "  here  was,  as 
Professor  Stuart  explains  it,  (Exeget.  Essays,  p.  142,) 
"a  lower  court,  viz.  that  of  the  Septemviri  among  the 
Hebrews  ;  "  the  "COUNCIL,"  (to  quote  again  the  Pro- 
fessor's words)  was  u  the  Sanhedrim,  or  highest  coun- 
cil, who  could  inflict  severer  punishment  than  the  court 
of  Septemviri,  q.  d.  he  will  deserve  still  severer  pun- 
ishment than  he  who  is  merely  angry  ;  "  the  "  hell-fire" 
was  the  fire  of  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  as  says  the  same 
author  ;  u  but  he  who  shall  say,  thou  fool,  shall  be  ob- 
noxious to  the  fire  of  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  q.  d.  to  a 
still  higher  and  more  severe  punishment,  [viz.]  such  as  is 
inflicted  by  burning  to  death  in  the  valley  of  Hinnom." 
Now  it  is  certain,  that  "the  judgment"  was  in  this 
world  ;  it  is  equally  certain,  that  "  the  council  "  was  in 
this  world  ;  and  it  is  just  as  certain,  that  the  punishment 
of  Gehenna  was  in  this  world.  If  this  passage  is  to  be 
understood  in  a  secondary  or  metaphorical  sense,  why 
then  should  we  understand  Gehenna  to  refer  to  the  fu- 
ture world  more  than  the  other  terms  ?  If  the  prima- 
ry sense  of  Gehenna,  as  all  must  confess,  was  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  as  much  as  "  the 
judgment  "  was  the  lower,  and  "  the  council "  the 
higher  court  of  the  Jews,  by  what  rule  of  interpretation 
shall  we  consider  the  two  latter  terms  to  refer  to  punish- 
ment in  the  present  state  of  being,  but  Gehenna  to  re- 
fer to  punishment  in  the  future  state  ?  We  have  no 
proof  that  the  word  had  ever  been  applied  to  punish- 


84  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNI  VERBALISM. 

ment  in  the  future  state,  by  any  writer,  sacred  or  pro- 
fane :  and  was  this  a  proper  manner  in  which  to  an- 
nounce for  the  first  time,  that  Gehenna  was  to  receive 
a  new  sense,  and  be  applied  to  a  supposed  punishment, 
of  which  the  Jews  learned  nothing  from  their  Scrip- 
tures ?  Furthermore,  Gehenna  had  received  a  secondary 
sense  in  the  Old  Testament,  as  we  have  shown  by  the 
quotations  from  Jeremiah  ;  and  if  Jesus  used  it  in  a 
secondary  sense,  why  ought  we  not  to  suppose  that  he 
put  the  same  secondary  sense  upon  it,  that  the  Jewish 
prophets  had  ?  Let  those  who  wish  further  light  on 
this  subject,  examine  Paige's  "  Selections,"  Sects. 
VIIL,  XVIII.  Balfour's  "  First  Inquiry,"  chap.  II. 
"  Universalist  Expositor,"  Vol.  II.  pp.  351  -  368.  For 
a  very  learned  article  on  the  cc  Opinions  and  Phraseol- 
ogy of  the  Jews  concerning  the  Future  State,"  see 
"Universalist  Expositor,"  Vol.  III.  pp.  397-440. 

V.   Matt.  v.  29,  30. 

(For  an  explanation  of  Matt.  v.  29,  30,  see  Mark 
ix.  43,  48.) 

VI.  "  Enter  ye  in  at  the  strait  gate ;  for  wide  is  the  gate,  and 
broad  is  the  way,  that  leadeth  to  destruction,  and  many  there  be 
which  go  in  thereat ;  because  strait  is  the  gate,  and  narrow  is  the 
way,  which  leadeth  unto  life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it."  Matt, 
vii.  13,  14.  Luke  xiii.  24. 

This  passage  is  very  frequently  quoted  to  sustain  the 
doctrine  of  endless  misery  ;  but  a  candid  examination 
will  show,  that  it  speaks  nothing  in  regard  to  the  future 
state.  Does  it  say,  broad  is  the  way  that  leadeth  to 
destruction  in  the  immortal  state  ?  No.  Narrow  is 
the  way  which  leadeth  unto  life  in  the  immortal  state  ? 
No.  Then,  verily,  the  passage  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  question  of  endless  misery. 

What  is  this  strait  gait  ?  The  preceding  verse  must 
be  consulted  for  an  answer.  "  Therefore,  all  things 
whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye 
even  so  to.  them  ;  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets." 
"  Hence,"  says  Adam  Clarke,  "  the  words  in  the 
original  are  very  emphatic :  Enter  in  (to  the  kingdom 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  85 

of  heaven)  through  THIS  strait  gate,  that  is  of  doing  to 
every  one  as  you  would  he  should  do  unto  you  ;  for 
this  alone  seems  to  be  the  strait  gate  which  our  Lord 
alludes  to."  Nevertheless,  Clarke  supposes  the  pas- 
sage to  teach  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery  ;  but  we 
confess  ourselves  utterly  unable  to  see  therein  the 
slightest  proof  of  said  doctrine.  They  who  obey  the 
commandments  of  Christ,  walk  in  the  path  of  wisdom  ; 
and  the  path  of  wisdom  is  the  PATH  OF  LIFE  ;  the 
path  of  folly  is  the  PATH  OF  DEATH.  Wisdom  is  a 
"  tree  of  life  to  those  who  lay  hold  upon  her."  Prov. 
iii.  18.  "  Whoso  findeth  me  findeth  life."  Prov.  viii. 
35.  "  He  is  in  the  WAY  OF  LIFE  that  keepeth  instruc- 
tion." Prov.  x.  17.  Again,  "  In  the  way  of  right- 
eousness is  LIFE,  and  in  the  pathway  thereof  there  is 
no  death."  Prov.  xii.  28.  The  opposite  state  is 
death.  "  To  be  carnally  minded  is  death."  Rom. 
viii.  6.  "He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  abideth  in 
death."  1  John  iii.  14.  These  scriptures  develope 
the  great  principles  on  which  the  figure  is  founded. 
Sin  and  error  are  everywhere  represented  as  death, 
while  righteousness  and  truth  are  life  and  peace.  Read- 
er, avoid  the  broad  road,  and  walk  in  the  pleasant  path 
of  Christ's  commandments. 

VJI.  "  Many  will  say  to  me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not 
prophesied  in  thy  name  ?  and  in  thy  name  have  cast  out  devils  ?  and 
in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works  ?  And  then  will  I  profess 
unto  them,  I  never  knew  you;  depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniqui- 
ty." Matt.  vii.  22,  23. 

This  is  one  of  the  texts  which  have  been  employed 
to  sustain  the  doctrine  of  endless  sin  and  misery  ;  but 
what  is  there  in  the  passage  that  would  lead  a  reason- 
able man  to  apply  it  to  the  future  state  of  existence  ? 
"  Many  will  say  unto  me  in  that  day,"  — what  day  is 
meant  ?  We  are  not  to  understand  it  to  be  a  day  of 
twenty-four  hours,  for  any  remarkable  time  is  called  a 
day  in  the  language  of  the  sacred  writers.  The  time 
of  a  nation's  punishment,  by  the  visitation  of  God,  is 
called  the  day  of  the  Lord,  because  at  that  time  God 
8 


86  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

exercises  justice  on  that  people  ;  hence,  the  phrase 
does  not  mean  one  and  the  same  time  whenever  it  oc- 
curs, but  any  time,  or  timesj  in  which  God  punished 
certain  nations  for  their  sins  by  some  tremendous  visita- 
tion of  judgment.  To  illustrate,  we  will  refer  to  sev- 
eral passages  of  Scripture.  See  Zeph.  i.  12—18. 
This  passage  refers  to  the  time  of  the  destruction  of 
the  Jews  by  the  Babylonians  ;  and  it  is  called  the  day 
of  the  Lord,  because  God  was  supposed  by  the  prophet 
to  have  sent  the  armies  of  Babylon  to  destroy  the  na- 
tion of  the  Jews  for  their  sins.  It  is  called,  by  way 
of  distinction,  u  that  time,"  "  the  great  day  of  the 
Lord,"  u  a  day  of  wrath,"  u  a  day  of  trouble  and  dis- 
tress," u  a  day  of  wasteness  and  desolation,"  "  a  day 
of  darkness  and  gloominess,"  "  a  day  of  clouds  and 
thick  darkness,"  and  "the  day  of  the  Lord's  wrath," 
&c.  Joel  describes  a  punishment  which  was  sent  upon 
the  Jews,  in  very  similar  language.  See  chap.  ii.  1,  2. 
"  Blow  ye  the  trumpet  in  Zion,  and  sound  an  alarm  in 
my  holy  mountain  ;  let  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land 
tremble  ;  for  the  day  of  the  Lord  cometh,  for  it  is  nigh 
at  hand  ;  a  day  of  darkness  and  of  gloominess,  a  day  of 
clouds  and  of  thick  darkness,  as  the  morning  spread  upon 
the  mountains  ;  a  great  people  and  a  strong  ;  there  hath 
not  been  ever  the  like,  neither  shall  be  any  more  after 
it,  even  to  the  years  of  many  generations." 

The  New  Testament  writers,  following  the  example 
of  the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament,  represent  the 
time  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans, 
as  the  day  of  the  Lord,  or  that  day.  Hence,  after  hav- 
ing foretold  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  declared, 
u  this  generation  shall  not  pass  till  all  be  fulfilled," 
Jesus  adds,  "  take  heed  to  yourselves,  lest  at  any  time, 
your  hearts  be  overcharged  with  surfeiting  and  drunken- 
ness, and  cares  of  this  life,  and  so  THAT  DAY  come 
upon  you  unawares."  Luke  xxi.  34.  Again,  Paul 
says,  1  Thes.  v.  4,  "  But  ye,  brethren,  are  not  in 
darkness,  that  THAT  DAY  should  overtake  you  as  a 
thief."  It  will  be  seen,  from  this,  that  the  Thessaloni- 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  87 

• 

ans  were  to  live  until  that  day  came,  and  that,  by  being 
watchful,  it  would  not  come  upon  them  suddenly  and 
unexpectedly,  u  as  a  thief  in  the  night."  * 

Jesus  taught  the  people,  that  empty  professions  of 
piety  were  of  no  avail  :  but  that  they  must  do  the  will 
of  God.  Matt.  vii.  21.  But  some,  who  were  desti- 
tute of  good  works  in  the  church,  would  be  depending 
on  their  unavailing  forms  of  piety.  They  are  repre- 
sented as  saying, . "  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  prophe- 
sied in  thy  name  ?  and  in  thy  name  have  cast  out  dev- 
ils ?  and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works  ?" 
Their  hopes  were  the  house  built  on  the  sand,  which  the 
winds  and  floods  destroyed,  that  is  they  were  trusting 
to  a  foundation  that  would  not  abide  them  :  they  were 
in  hopes  to  be  saved  from  the  general  calamity  by 
their  mere  professions  of  godliness,  whereas  nothing 
would  be  a  sure  support,  a  solid  foundation,  but  doing 
the  will  of  God.  This  was  the  rocfc,  and  he  who  built 
on  it  was  sure  to  stand.  See  Matt.  vii.  24-27.  As 
these  false  and  hypocritical  professors  would  be  cast 
off  in  the  day  of  the  Lord,  and  made  to  suffer  the 
same  punishments  which  fell  on  the  unbelieving,  perse- 
cuting Jews,  Christ  is  represented  as  saying  to  them, 
"  I  never  knew  you  ;  depart  from  me,  ye  that  work 
iniquity." 

VIII.  "  And  I  say  unto  you,  that  many  shall  come  from  the  east 
and  west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  But  the  children  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  cast 
out  into  outer  darkness ;  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of 
teeth."  Matt.  viii.  11,  12. 

It  has  been  supposed,  that  the  "  kingdom  of  heaven," 
in  this  passage,  referred  to  a  state  of  eternal  blessed- 
ness in  the  immortal  existence  ;  and  so,  by  antithesis, 
the  u  outer  darkness "  referred  to  a  state  of  endless 
misery.  The  argument  founded  on  antithesis,  is  a  good 
one  ;  because,  it  seems  evident,  that  the  darkness  is  the 
opposite  of  the  blessings  of  the  kingdom.  But  the 

*  For  the  authority  of  the  learned  Lightfoot  on  this  subject,  see 
{<  Notes  and  Illustrations  of  Parables,"  pp.  317,  318,  note. 


88  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSAL1SM. 

phrase  "  kingdom  of  heaven,"  or  "kingdom  of  God," 
in  its  common  use  in  the  New  Testament,  does  not  re- 
fer to  the  future  world,  but  to  the  reign  of  the  Gospel 
in  this  world.  It  was  a  kingdom  set  up  in  the  hearts 
of  men,  Jesus  ruling  as  king  ;  and  every  one  who  ac- 
knowledged him  "  Lord,"  and  obeyed  his  laws,  was  a 
subject  of  the  kingdom,  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob.  They  became  joint  heirs  with  the  patriarch, 
and  his  sons  and  children,  through  faith.  Thus,  Dr. 
Whitby  says,  "  to  lie  down  (so  the  verb  is  more  prop- 
erly rendered,  as  the  Jews  always  reclined  at  their 
feasts)  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  doth  not  here  signify  to  enjoy  eternal 
happiness  in  heaven  with  them,  but  only  to  become  the 
sons  of  Abraham  through  faith."  (Com.  on  the  pas- 
sage.) Passages  in  illustration  of  this,  have  already 
been  given  in  this  work.  Any  passage  in  the  evange- 
lists may  be  consulted,  in  which  the  phrase  occurs. 

The  darkness  spoken  of,  and  with  which  we  are 
principally  concerned  here,  was  a  state  of  ignorance  of 
the  Gospel ;  and  not  a  valid  reason  can  be  given  that  it 
is  to  be  eternal.  "  He  setteth  AN  END  to  darkness." 
Job.  xxviii.  3.  u  Who  hath  delivered  us  from  the 
power  of  darkness."  Col.  i.  13.  This  passage  plain- 
ly shows,  that  the  darkness  is  not  endless  misery  in 
hell,  from  which  nobody  can  be  delivered.  "Bring 
them  that  sit  in  darkness  out  of  the  prison-house." 
Isa.  xlii.  7.  Here,  again,  is  deliverance  from  darkness. 
"  The  people  that  walked  in  darkness  have  seen  a 
great  light  ;  they  that  dwell  in  the  land  of  the  shadow 
of  death,  on  them  hath  the  light  shined."  Isa.  ix.  2. 
"I  will  make  darkness  light  before  thee."  xliii.  16. 
The  plain  sense  of  these  passages  is,  that  darkness  is 
put  as  a  metaphor  for  ignorance  and  unbelief,  and  has 
no  respect  to  a  place  of  sin  and  misery  in  the  future 
world.  When  men  were  brought  to  a  knowledge  of 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  they  were  brought  out  of 
darkness  into  light,  and  thus  were  "translated  into  the 
kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son." 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  89 

So  it  is  said,  in  the  passage  before  us,  they  shall 
come  from  every  quarter  of  the  world,  and  enjoy  with 
the  patriarchs  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel,  while  the 
Jews,  "  the  children  of  the  kingdom,"  should  be  left 
in  the  darkness  of  unbelief.  They  who  believe  the 
Gospel,  hold  communion  by  faith  with  the  patriarchs. 
At  the  time  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Mosaic  institution, 
the  Gospel  had  been  preached,  and  converts  made,  from 
the  "ends  of  the  world,"  —  east,  west,  north,  and 
south,  —  but  the  Jews  were  left  in  the  darkness  of  un- 
belief. "  God  hath  concluded  them  all  in  unbelief,  that 
he  might  have  mercy  on  all."  Rom.  xi.  32. 

IX.  "  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the 
land  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  in  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for  that 
city."  Matt.  x.  15. 

It  is  said  by  a  learned  writer  in  the  u  Universalist 
Expositor,"  that,  "  considering  the  doctrines  which 
have  prevailed  in  Christendom,  it  is  by  no  means  sur- 
prising that  this  text  has  been  commonly  understood  to 
refer  to  a  day  of  judgment  in  the  immortal  world. 
The  future  tense- of  the  verb,  shall  be,  seems  [to  some] 
to  favor  such  an  application,  when  considered  in  con- 
nexion with  some  of  the  most  striking  circumstances  of 
the  subject.  When  our  Saviour  spoke  these  words, 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  had  for  ages  ceased  to  exist  in 
this  world  ;  and  still,  he  said,  **  it  shall  be  more  toler- 
able "  for  them  in  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for  the 
cities  which  should  not  receive  his  disciples,  nor  hear 
their  words.  Accordingly,  it  is  contended,  the  judg- 
ment here  mentioned  must  be  in  the  future  world, 
where,  alone,  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  long  since  per- 
ished, could  then  be  arraigned."  u  Univ.  Expos." 
Vol.  III.  p.  26.  Such  is  the  common  argument,  stated 
with  great  fairness.  See  Lee's  u  Universalism  Exam- 
ined," p.  171. 

We  esteem  the  meaning  of  the  passage  to  be  this  : 

that   in   the    day  of  visitation,  or  judgment,  which   is 

about    coming   on   the    rebellious   cities  of  Judea,  the 

punishment  which  was  suffered  by  Sodom  and  Gomor- 

8* 


90  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

rah  shall  appear  more  tolerable  than  that  which  shall  be 
suffered  by  those  cities.  And  that  this  is  the  correct 
interpretation  of  the  passage,  is  allowed  by  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  commentators,  who  have  believed  in 
endless  misery.  Adam  Clarke  says  ;  "  In  the  day  of 
judgment,  or  punishment,  kriseos.  Perhaps  not  mean- 
ing the  day  of  general  judgment,  nor  the  destruction  of 
the  Jewish  state  by  the  Romans  ;  but  a  day  in  which 
God  would  send  punishment  on  that  particular  city,  or 
on  that  person  for  their  crimes.  So  the  day  of  judg- 
ment of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  was  the  time  in  which 
the  Lord  destroyed  them  by  fire  and  brimstone,  from 
the  Lord  out  of  heaven."  Speaking  of  those  who  re- 
jected and  denounced  the  Gospel,  the  Doctor  adds  : 
u  Their  punishment,  our  Lord  intimates,  shall  be 
greater  than  that  inflicted  upon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah." 

Bishop  Pearce  agrees  to  this  ;  and  Dr.  Hammond, 
also,  whose  remarks  are  worthy  of  particular  attention. 
He  paraphrases  the  words  of  Christ  thus  ;  "I  assure 
you,  the  punishment  or  destruction  that  shall  light  upon 
that  city  shall  be  such,  that  the  destruction  of  Sodom 
shall  appear  to  have  been  more  tolerable  than  that."  Par- 
aphrase on  the  verse.  Again  he  says,  in  another  place  ; 
"  Shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in 
that  day  (that  is,  not  in  the  day  of  judgment  to  come, 
for  that  belongs  to  each  particular  person,  not  whole 
cities  together,)  in  that  day  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 
than  for  that  refractory  city.  God's  dealing  with  Sod- 
om in  the  day  of  their  destruction  with  fire  and  brim- 
Stone,  shall  be  acknowledged  to  have  been  more  sup- 
portable than  his  dealing  with  such  contumacious,  im- 
penitent cities  of  Judea."  Com.  on  Matt.  iii.  2. 

The  same  comparison,  made  by  the  Saviour,  be- 
tween the  punishment  of  Sodom  and  that  of  the  Jewish 
sinners,  was  also  made  by  Jeremiah.  See  Lam.  iv.  6. 
"  For  the  punishment  of  the  iniquity  of  the  daughter  of 
my  people  is  greater  than  the  punishment  of  the  sin  of 
Sodom,  that  was  overthrown  as  in  a  moment,  and  no 
hand  stayed  on  her."  Here  the  punishment  of  the  sin 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  91 

of  Sodom  is  declared  to  be  more  tolerable  than  the 
punishment  of  the  Jews.  Sodom  was  overthrown  in  a 
moment ;  but  the  punishment  of  the  Jews  was  protracted, 
and  was  horrible  almost  beyond  conception. 

The  above  argument  is  strengthened  by  the  consid- 
eration, that  God's  judgments  are  in  the  earth.  On 
this  point,  the  sacred  writers  are  very  explicit.  "  Ver- 
ily, he  is  a  God  that  judgeth  IN  THE  EARTH."  Ps. 
Iviii.  11.  The  Saviour  said  ;  "For  judgment  I  am 
come  into  this  world."  Again,  he  said  "  the  Father 
judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all  judgment  unto 
the  Son."  John  ix.  39  ;  compare  John  v.  22.  Now, 
if  God  has  committed  all  judgment  unto  the  Son,  and, 
if  Jesus  came  into  this  world  to  fulfil  the  high  appoint- 
ment of  executing  judgment,  then  the  judgment  must  be 
in  this  world.  Hence  Jesus  said,  on  another  occasion, 
"  Now  is  the  judgment  of  this  world."  John  xii.  31. 
See,  also,  1  Peter  iv.  17,  18.  The  Revelator  says, 
"  The  great  day  of  his  wrath  is  come  ;  and  who  shall 
be  able  to  stand  ?"  vi.  17  ;  and  again,  "  Fear  God 
and  give  glory  to  him,  for  the  hour  of  his  judgment  is 
COME."  xiv.  7.  All  this  agrees  with  what  Solomon 
said,  Prov.  xi.  31. 

Mr.  Balfour  has  clearly  shown,  that  the  phrase, 
"  day  of  judgment,"  in  the  Scriptures,  should  not  be 
understood  to  signify  a  day  of  trial  after  death.  See  his 
"  Reply  to  Sabine,"  pp.  60-80  ;  and  his  "  Essays," 
pp.  221-305.  It  seems  almost  impossible  for  any  candid 
man  to  read  Mr.  Balfour's  criticisms  on  this  matter,  and 
not  be  convinced  that  he  is  right. 

X.  "  And  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake  ;  but 
he  that  endureth  to  the  end  shall  be  saved."  Matt.  x.  22.  Mark 
xiii.  13. 

He  that  endureth  to  the  end  !  What  end  ?  Not 
the  end  of  the  material  universe,  certainly  ;  but  the  end 
of  which  he  was  speaking  in  that  place.  Dr.  Whitby 
says,  "he  that  endureth  to  the  end  of  these  persecu- 
tions from  the  unbelieving  Jews,  shall  be  saved  from 
the  dreadful  destruction  coming  on  them.  But  when 


92  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

they  persecute  you  in  this  city,  that  is,  in  any  one  city, 
flee  ye  into  another  ;  for  verily  I  say  unto  you,  ye  shall 
not  have  gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel  till  the  Son  of 
man  be  come  with  his  Roman  army  to  destroy  that  na- 
tion, and  to  burn  up  their  cities."  Par.  on  the  place. 
Matt.  xxiv.  13,  is  a  parallel  passage,  which  the  dili- 
gent inquirer  is  requested  to  examine.  Now,  in  point- 
ing out  when  the  end  would  transpire,  spoken  of  in 
verse  13,  Jesus  said;  ^  Now  learn  a  parable  of  the 
fig-tree;  when  his  branch  is  yet' tender,  and  putteth 
forth  leaves,  ye  know  that  summer  is  nigh  ;  so,  like- 
wise ye,  when  ye  shall  see  all  these  things,  know  that  it 
(the  end)  is  near,  even  at  the  doors.  Verily,  I  say 
unto  you,  this  generation  shall  not  pass,  till  all  these 
things  be  fulfilled."  Matt.  xxiv.  32,  33  ;  see,  also,  1 
Cor.  x.  11. 

XI.  "  And  fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to 
kill  the  soul ;  but  rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul 
and  body  in  hell."  Matt.  x.  28  ;  Luke  xii.  4,  5. 

This  passage  is,  confessedly,  difficult  of  construc- 
tion. Universalists  are  sincerely  desirous,  we  believe, 
to  learn  what  is  its  true  sense.  There  are  many  per- 
sons who  seem  confident,  that  the  passage  teaches  the" 
doctrine  of  endless  misery  in  hell  (Gehenna).  But  let 
us  look  at  the  passage  carefully. 

Does  it  say,  God  will  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in 
hell  ?  No  ;  it  says  he  is  able  to  do  so  ?  It  describes 
his  ability ,  not  his  will,  nor  his  purpose.  We  do  not 
doubt  God's  ability  to  destroy  the  whole  universe  ;  but 
is  it  his  will  to  do  so  ?  Should  it  be  said,  in  reply  to 
this,  that  Jesus  would  not  have  spoken  as  he  did,  if  he 
had  not  believed  there  was  danger  that  God  would  de- 
stroy soul  and  body  in  hell,  we  say  this  is  an  unjustifia- 
ble conclusion.  It  is  often  the  case,  that  men  speak  of 
the  power  of  God,  by  describing  him  as  being  able  to 
do  what  they  have  no  expectation  he  will  do.  As  an 
illustration  of  this,  take  the  following  quotation  from 
one  of  the  hymns  sung  in  Christian  assemblies  ;  — 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  93 

"  Praise  to  thee,  thou  great  Creator, 
Bounteous  source  of  every  joy  ; 
He  whose  hand  sustains  all  nature, 
He  whose  nod  can  all  destroy." 

Here  we  are  told,  that  God  can  destroy  all  nature. 
But,  was  it  the  poet's  intention  to  assert,  that  God  ac- 
tually would  destroy  all  nature  ?  No  ;  he  merely  re- 
ferred to  the  extent  of  God's  power.  So  in  the  pas- 
sage before  us.  When  it  is  said,  God  is  able  to  de- 
stroy both  soul  and  body  in  hell,  there  is  not  the  slight- 
est affirmation,  that  he  wills  to  do  so.  Take  another 
instance.  When  John  the  Baptist  said,  u  God  is  able 
of  these  stones  to  raise  up  children  unto  Abraham," 
did  he  intend  to  say,  that  God  would  do  so  t  Certainly 
not  ;  he  merely  meant  to  state  what  God  had  the  power 
to  do. 

But  again,  If  this  passage  refer  to  the  future  exist- 
ence, arid  if  the  terms  soul  and  body  are  to  be  un- 
derstood as  referring  to  the  immortal  spirit  and  the  mor- 
tal  body  of  man,  and  if  the  destruction  is  to  be  under- 
stood in  the  literal  sense  of  the  phrase,  then  how  can 
the  doctrine  of  endless  misery  be  true  ?  If  we  adopt 
such  a  construction  of  the  passage,  that  doctrine  falls  to 
the  ground  at  once  ;  for  if  the  immortal  spirit  and  the 
mortal  body  are  both  destroyed,  then  neither  can  remain 
subject  to  punishment,  and,  of  course,  neither  can  be 
punished  forever.  To  destroy  both  soul  and  body,  in 
the  sense  in  which  these  terms  are  generally  employed, 
certainly  cannot  signify,  to  perpetuate  the  punishment 
of  soul  and  body  in  hell  forever.  That  would  be  the 
very  reverse  of  destruction. 

Once  more.  Have  we  any  evidence,  that  the  term 
Gehenna,  rendered  hell  in  the  passage  before  us,  had 
ever  been  used  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour  to  signify  end- 
less punishment,  or,  in  fact,  any  punishment  in  the  fu- 
ture state  ?  Jesus  probably  used  the  word  in  some 
sense  that  was  common  in  his  day.  We  look  in  vain, 
in  the  Old  Testament,  for  proof  that  Gehenna  was  used 
to  signify  a  place  of  punishment  in  the  future  state  ;  nor 


94  '  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

is  there  any  proof  that  Gehenna  was  used  in  such  a  sense, 
before  the  time  of  the  Saviour.  Jesus  would  not  em- 
ploy the  word  in  a  sense  to  which  the  people  were  alto- 
gether unaccustomed  ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  more  than 
probable,  that  he  did  not  use  the  word  to  signify  a  place 
of  punishment  in  the  future  state.  At  any  rate,  we 
must  believe  that  he  did  not,  until  we  see  evidence 
to  the  contrary.  We  know  that  quotations  are  some- 
times made  from  the  Targurns  of  Onkelos  and  Jona- 
than Ben  Qzziel,  to  show  that  Gehenna  had  been  em- 
ployed in  the  time  of  Christ  to  signify  endless  misery  ; 
but  these  Targums  are  now  generally  referred,  by 
the  learned  critics,  to  a  much  later  date.  If  any  per- 
son will  produce  a  passage,  in  which  Gehenna  is  ap- 
plied to  punishment  in  the  future  state,  from  any  writer 
who  is  known  to  have  lived  before  the  time  of  Christ, 
or  even  contemporaneously  with  the  Saviour,  we  will 
acknowledge,  that  there  is  an  argument  in  favor  of  such 
an  application  of  the  term,  which  as  yet  we  have  never 
seen. 

But  again  ;  is  it  certain  that  the  Saviour  intended  to 
refer  to  the  principle,  which  is  called  the  immortal  spirit 
of  man  ?  u  Fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body  (aw^ua), 
but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul  (</>i^)."  Is  it  certain 
the  Saviour  here  referred  to  that  immortal  part  of  man, 
which  is  to  survive  the  ravages  of  death  ?  We  want 
proof,  if  we  are  called  on  to  admit  this.  We  know 
that  the  Greek  term  i//^  does  very  frequently  signify 
mere  animal  life.  Thus,  Matt.  ii.  10  ;  u  They  are 
dead  which  sought  the  young  child's  life."  Did  they 
seek  its  immortal  spirit,  or  did  they  seek  to  destroy  its 
earthly  being  ?  Again  ;  "  Take  no  thought  for  your 
life,  what  you  shall  eat,"  &c.  "Is  not  the  life  more 
than  meat  ? "  Matt.  vi.  25.  Here  the  term  evidently 
does  not  signify  any  thing  more  than  mere  animal  exist- 
ence. What  circumstance  is  it,  then,  which  makes  it 
so  certain  as  some  imagine  it  to  be,  that  yi'/r,,  in  Matt. 
x.  28,  and  Luke  xii.  4,  5,  signify  the  ever-living  princi- 
ple ?  We  think  there  is  room  for  great  doubt  on  that 
point. 


MEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  95 

But,  in  still  further  confirmation  of  what  we  have 
said,  let  it  be  observed,  that  the  sacred  writers  make  a 
clear  distinction  between  yvxr\,  the  life,  —  and  wiv^a, 
the  spirit.  The  spirit,  mtv^n,  is  never  said  to  be  de- 
stroyed in  Gehenna.  We  challenge  the  world  to  pro- 
duce an  instance  of  the  kind.  Paul  says,  "  I  pray 
God  your  whole  spirit  (msvua),  and  soul  (^i^>)),  and 
body  (uw/itf),  be  preserved  blameless,  unto  the  coming 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  1  Thess.  v.  23.  Here 
yv%r)  is  plainly  distinguished  from  wiv^a.  See  also 
Heb.  iv.  12.  <c  For  the  word  of  God  is  quick  and 
powerful,  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  pierc- 
ing even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit." 
Here  yvxn  and  nvtv^n  are  plainly  distinguished  again. 
If  yvxi]  signifies  the  immortal  spirit,  what  is  the  nrev^al 
We  beg,  that  it  may  be  specially  remembered,  that  we 
read  of  casting  the  body  into  Gehenna,  and  of  destroy- 
ing the  yi-'/if,  life,  in  Gehenna  ;  but  the  word  nvtvpa  is 
not  mentioned  once  in  connexion  with  Gehenna  in  the 
whole  Bible.  Strange  !  strange  !  if  the  immortal  spirit 
is  doomed  to  be  punished  in  Gehenna  forever !  * 

If  the  foregoing  remarks  have  been  duly  considered, 
the  reader  will  see,  that  it  is  by  no  means-probable,  that 
Jesus  spoke  the  words  in  Matt.  x.  28,  for  the  purpose 
of  teaching  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery. 

Various  explanations  of  this  passage  have  been  given 
by  Universalists.  We  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  ad- 
duce them  here. 

The  reader  is  referred,  for  the  opinion  presented  by 
Rev.  H.  Ballou,  of  Boston,  to  the  "  Universalist  Ex- 
positor," Vol.  II.  pp.  233-241.  Also  to  a  sermon 
on  Luke  xii.  4,  5,  by  Rev.  S.  Cobb,  entitled,  u  The 

*  Since  writing  the  above  we  have  examined  1  Cor.  xv.  44.  "  It 
is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body,  —  Where  natural 
is  from  Y'u^txbv,  and  spiritual  fromnvtvuanxbr.  Here  the  V'u/*/  is 
evidently  put  for  something  pertaining  to  the  natural  body,  while  the 
nviv^a  is  the  pure  spirit  which  shall  live  in  the  immortal  world,  be- 
yond the  resurrection  of  the  dead  And  remember,  nnvua  is  not 
mentioned  once  in  the  whole  Bible  in  connexion  with  Gehenna. 


96  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

Destruction  of  Soul  and  Body  in  Gehenna,"  in  which 
the  author  has  advanced  opinions  somewhat  similar 
to  those  of  Rev.  Mr.  Ballou.  An  article  from  the 
pen  of  Rev.  H.  Ballou,  2d.,  may  be  found  in  the 
"  Universalist  Expositor,"  Vol.  IV.  pp.  164-169,  and 
a  reply  to  the  same,  by  Rev.  H.  Ballou,  of  Boston,  in 
the  same  volume,  322  -  326.  See  also  a  very  learned 
article  on  the  word  Gehenna,  same  work,  Vol.  II.  pp. 
351  -368.  See  also  Balfour's  "First  Inquiry,  ed.  of 
1832,  pp.  139-151,  and  187-190.  Balfour's  "Re- 
ply to  Sabine,"  pp.  99-125.  "  Letters  to  Hudson," 
pp.  171-186.  "  Reply  to  Stuart,"  p.  222.  See  also 
"  Trumpet,"  Vol.  XL  p.  77,  for  an  interesting  article 
from  Mr.  P.  Hay,  Jr.  Also  p.  92,  same  volume.  See 
also  an  article  from  Rev  W.  E.  Manley,  same  volume, 
p.  193,  and  a  reply  thereto  from  H.  B.  198.  Mr. 
Manley 's  rejoinder  appeared  in  the  "  Trumpet,"  Vol. 
XII.  p.  5.  See  also  a  very  interesting  article  from  Rev. 
J.  B.  Dods,  same  volume,  p.  73. 

XII.  "  But  I  say  unto  you.  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Tyre  and 
Sidon  at  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for  you.  And  thou,  Capernaum, 
which  art  exalted  unto  heaven,  shall  be  brought  down  to  hell :  for  if 
the  mighty  works,  which  have  been  done  in  thee,  had  been  done  in 
Sodom,  it  would  have  remained  until  this  day.  But  I  say  unto  you, 
that  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom,  in  the  day  of 
judgment,  than  for  thee."  Matt.  xi.  22  -  24. 

For  the  explanation  of  this  passage,  so  far  as  the 
phrase,  tc  day  of  judgment,"  is  concerned,  we  refer  to 
our  remarks  on  Matt.  x.  15,  section  IX.  We  need 
not  repeat  the  arguments  here. 

Let  it  be  observed,  that  the  word  hell  in  this  pas- 
sage is  not  translated  from  Gehenna,  a  word  we  have 
already  considered,  but  from  hades,  which  primarily  sig- 
nifies the  state  of  the  dead  in  genera],  but  secondarily 
(as  in  the  passage  before  us),  it  signifies  a  low,  depress- 
ed, and  debased  situation.  The  sense  of  the  passage 
we  believe  to  be  this  :  It  shall  appear,  in  the  judgment 
about  to  come,  that  the  punishment  inflicted  on  Tyre 
and  Sidon,  was  more  tolerable,  than  the  punishment 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  97 

which  shall  fall  on  the  Jewish  cities  which  have  reject- 
ed the  Gospel.  And  thou,  Capernaum,  which  hast 
been  highly  favored,  and  exalted,  as  it  were,  to  heaven, 
in  point  of  distinguished  privileges,  shall  be  brought 
down  to  hadeSj  i.  e.  to  the  lowest  desolation.  If  the 
mighty  works  which  have  been  done  in  thee,  had  been 
done  in  Sodom,  that  city  would  not  have  been  de- 
stroyed. For  I  say  unto  you,  in  the  judgment  about  to 
come,  it  shall  appear  to  have  been  more  tolerable  for 
the  land  of  Sodom,  than  for  thee.  Such,  we  believe, 
to  be  the  true  sense  of  the  passage  ;  and  by  a  reference 
to  Paige's  "  Selections,'7  Sect,  xx.,  such  will  be  seen 
to  have  been  the  opinion  of  some  of  the  most  eminent 
of  the  orthodox  commentators.  The  reader  is  refer- 
red to  that  work. 

XII F.  "  Wherefore  I  say  unto  you,  all  manner  of  sin  and  blasphe- 
my shall  be  forgiven  unto  men ;  but  the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy 
Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven  unto  men.  And  whosoever  speaketh  a 
word  against  the  Son  of  Man,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him :  but  who- 
soever speakelh  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him, 
neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the  world  to  come."  Matt,  xii.31,32. 

In  examining  this  passage,  we  shall  attend  to  the  fol- 
lowing particulars  : 

1st.  Did  the  Saviour  intend  to  say,  that  the  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost  could  not,  on  any  condition, 
nor  under  any  circumstances,  be  forgiven  ? 

2nd.  In  what  did  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost 
consist  ? 

3d.  What  is  to  be  understood  by  the  expression, 
u  hath  never  forgiveness  ?  "  Mark  iii.  29,  or  u  shall  not 
be  forgiven,  neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the  world 
to  come  ?  "  Matt.  xii.  32. 

Our  first  question  is,  Did  the  Saviour  intend  to  say, 
that  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  could  not,  on  any 
conditions,  nor  under  any  circumstances,  be  forgiven  ? 
We  think  not.  The  spirit  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ 
would  not  have  taught  any  thing  contradictory  to  what 
the  same  spirit  taught,  when  speaking  through  some 
other  person.  God.  said  to  the  rebellious  Jews  by 
9 


98  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

Isaiah,  u  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be 
as  white  as  snow  ;  though  they  be  red  like  crimson, 
they  shall  be  as  wool."  Isa.  i.  IS.  It  was  the  evi- 
dent intention  of  this  language  to  show,  that,  however 
deep  their  sins,  they  might  be  washed  away.  We  read, 
also,  1  John  i.  7,  9,  u  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
his  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  ALL  SIN  ;  [the  sin  against 
the  Holy  Ghost  not  excepted  ;]  and,  again,  cc  if  we 
confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our 
sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  ALL  unrighteousness." 
We  think  it  is  the  intent  and  meaning  of  these  quota- 
tions, that  all  sins  will  be  freely  forgiven  upon  repent- 
ance. How,  then,  it  will  be  asked,  shall  we  explain 
the  words  of  Christ,  "  all  manner  of  sin  and  blasphe- 
my shall  be  forgiven  unto  men ;  but  the  blasphemy 
against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven  unto 
men  ?  " 

We  answer,  that  we  would  explain  these  words  on 
precisely  the  same  principle  of  interpretation,  on  which 
we  explain  many  other  passages  of  Holy  writ.  Every 
diligent  student  of  the  Bible  knows,  that  the  Hebrew 
writers  were  in  the  habit  of  saying,  such  a  thing  shall 
be,  and  such  a  thing  shall  not  be,  when  they  did  not 
mean  that  the  latter  thing  was  impossible,  but  that  it 
was  less  probable  than  the  former.  The  learned  Gro- 
tius  says,  "  This  form  of  speech  is  a  common  Hebra- 
ism :  the  Jewrs  often  said,  this  shall  be,  and  that  shall 
not  be ;  not  intending,  however,  to  affirm  absolutely 
that  the  first  should  be  (and,  of  course,  not  affirming 
absolutely  that  the  last  should  not  be),  but  merely  to 
show  that  the  last  was  much  more  unlikely  or  difficult 
than  the  first.  The  sense,"  says  he,  "  is  this  :  any 
crime  which  may  be  committed,  even  all  calumnies  (or 
blasphemies)  which  hold  the  first  rank  among  crimes, 
may  be  forgiven  more  readily  than  the  calumny  (or 
blasphemy)  against  the  Spirit  of  God.".  Paige's  "  Se- 
lections," p.  85.  The  same  view  precisely  is  taken 
by  many  commentators,  and  particularly  in  a  note  in  the 
Doway  [a  Catholic]  translation,  on  this  passage. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  99 

"Now,  this  kind  of  sin  is  usually  accompanied  with  so 
much  obstinacy,  and  such  wilful  opposing  the  truth  of 
God,  and  the  known  truth,  that  men  who  are  guilty  of 
it,  are  seldom  or  never  converted ;  and,  therefore,  are 
never  forgiven,  because  they  will  not  repent.  Other- 
wise^ there  is  no  sin  which  God  cannot,  or  will  not  for- 
give to  such  as  sincerely  repent."  Here,  it  is  plainly 
stated,  by  a  Roman  Catholic  writer,  that  there  is  no 
sin  which  cannot  be  forgiven  on  repentance  ;  and  this 
remark  he  makes  in  especial  reference  to  the  conclusion 
to  which  many  of  the  very  best  orthodox  writers  have 
come,  that  all  manner  of  sin  and  blasphemy  is  more 
easily  forgiven  than  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
but  then  even  this  sin  may  be  forgiven,  if  duly  and  sin- 
cerely repented  of. 

2nd.  We  were  to  inquire,  in  the  second  place,  in 
what  did  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  consist  ?  Here, 
again,  we  cannot  reply  in  any  better  language,  than  that 
of  the  Do  way  translator.  u  The  sin  here  spoken  of, 
is  that  blasphemy,  by  which  the  Pharisees  attributed  the 
miracles  of  Christ,  wrought  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  to 
Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  devils."  The  sin  against  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  one  particular  sin  ;  and  that  sin  consisted 
in  attributing  the  miracles  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  Beel- 
zebub, the  prince  of  devils,  which  he  wrought  by  the 
power  of  Jehovah.  To  this  conclusion  any  one  will 
be  led,  who  will  read  from  the  22d  to  the  32d  verse 
of  Matt.  xii.  Jesus  cast  out  a  demon  from  a  man  who 
was  both  blind  and  dumb,  or,  in  other  words,  he  healed 
him  of  his  blindness  and  dumbness.  The  people  were 
amazed  ;  and  the  Pharisees,  his  enemies,  who  could 
not  deny  that  the  miracle  had  been  wrought,  attributed 
the  working  of  it  to  the  spirit  of  Beelzebub.  Now  this 
was  a  sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  which  the  miracle 
was  actually  wrought ;  and,  accordingly,  the  Saviour 
went  on  to  speak  of  the  difficulty  of  forgiving  and  over- 
coming this  sin.  The  Pharisees  rejected  the  highest 
evidence,  that  of  an  open  miracle  ;  and  it  was,  of 
course,  vastly  more  difficult  to  overcome  and  forgive 


100  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

this  sin  and  unbelief,  than  any  other.  No  person  can 
commit  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  now,  unless  he 
admits,  in  the  first  place,  that  Christ  actually  wrought  a 
miracle  ;  and  then  alleges  that  he  did  it  by  a  league 
with  the  devil,  and  through  the  devil's  assistance,  for 
this  was  the  ground  taken  by  the  Pharisees. 

3d.  But,  third,  we  are  to  inquire,  what  is  meant  by 
the  phrase,  "  hath  never  forgiveness,"  Mark  iii.  29,  or 
"  shall  not  be  forgiven,  neither  in  this  world,  neither  in 
the  world  to  come."  Matt.  xii.  32.  These  phrases 
are  synonymous.  The  passage  in  Mark  stands  thus  ; 
u  hath  not  forgiveness  d?  TOV  «o3ca,"  that  is,  unto  the  age. 
It  does  not  mean,  hath  never  forgiveness,  as  the  trans- 
lators have  rendered  it ;  but  literally,  cc  hath  not  for- 
giveness unto  the  age."  The  expression  was  an  indef- 
inite one  among  the  Jews,  and  must  be  understood  ac- 
cording to  the  subject  to  which  it  is  applied.  The 
language  used  by  Matthew  is,  "  shall  not  be  forgiven, 
neither  in  this  world,  nor  the  world  to  come."  But  it 
is  very  certain,  that  Matthew  was  not  speaking  of  the 
mortal  and  immortal  states  of  being,  when  he  spoke  of 
this  world,  and  the  ivorld  to  come.  No,  he  had  no  ref- 
erence to  the  immortal  state  of  being  in  any  way.  Let 
the  Bible  explain  itself.  Let  one  sacred  writer  eluci- 
date another.  Paul  says,  Heb.  ix,  26,  "Now,  once, 
IN  THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD,  hath  Christ  appeared, 
to  put  away  sin,  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself."  What 
world  was  that  ?  Answer,  it  was  the  world  which  came 
to  an  end  when  Christ  appeared.  Paul  was  speaking 
of  an  event  which  had  already  transpired,  not  of  one 
which  was  then  future.  The  world  of  which  he  was 
then  speaking,  had  already  come  to  an  end.  It  was  the 
Jewish  world,  or  AGE,  at  the  end  of  which  Jesus  intro- 
duced his  Gospel,  and  brought  "  life  and  immortality 
to  light."  We  will  give  another  passage.  1  Cor.  x. 
11.  u  Now  all  these  things  happened  unto  them  for 
ensamples  ;  and  they  are  written  for  our  admonition, 
upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come."  What  ! 
another  world  come  to  an  end  !  Yes,  more  than  that  ; 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          101 

for  the  original  word  here  is  in  the  plural  form,  as  fol- 
lows :  "upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  WORLDS  are 
come."  How  many  of  these  worlds  had  then  come  to 
an  end,  we  do  not  know.  Under  this  view  of  the  sub- 
ject, we  ask  the  candid  reader  to  decide,  whether  the 
passage  in  Matthew  furnishes  any  proof  of  endless 
punishment  ?  "  Shall  not  be  forgiven,  neither  in  this 
world,"  or  age,  which  ended  when  the  Gospel  age  be- 
gan ;  "  neither  in  the  world,"  or  age,  "  to  come,"  that 
is,  the  age  which  succeeded  it.  Let  us  not  be  wise 
above  what  is  written.  Let  us  be  willing  to  stop  where 
the  Bible  stops.  But  there  is  one  matter  of  revelation 
not  to  be  forgotten  here.  It  is  recorded  in  Eph.  ii.  7. 
"  That  in  the  WORLDS  (plural)  TO  COME,  he  might 
show  the  exceeding  riches  of  his  grace,  in  his  kindness 
towards  us  through  Christ  Jesus."  Now,  although  the 
sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  to  be  forgiven 
neither  in  the  then  existing  age  or  world,  nor  in  the  age 
or  world  which  succeeded  it,  yet  (mark  reader)  in  the 
WORLDS  TO  COME  [for  it  is  the  same  Greek  word  in 
Ephesians  which  you  find  in  Matthew]  God  will  show 
the  exceeding  riches  of  his  grace.  Exceeding,  is  a 
word  of  comparison.  Exceeding  what  ?  We  reply, 
exceeding  every  display  of  his  grace  which  had  been 
before  made.  In  these  latter  days,  or  ages,  God  shows 
us  the  exceeding  riches  of  his  grace,  which  outshine  all 
former  exhibitions,  as  the  rising  sun  outshines  the  morn- 
ing stars,  that  are  lost  in  the  flood  of  light  he  pours  up- 
on the  world.  The  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  may  be 
cancelled  by  the  exceeding  riches  of  God's  grace  in 
the  AGES  to  come,  although  it  was  not  to  be  forgiven 
neither  in  the  age  when  Christ  spake,  nor  in  the  age 
which  succeeded  it. 

We  refer  those  who  desire  to  look  further  into  this 
subject,  to  Ballou's  "Lectures,"  Ed.  of  1832,  pp. 
117-131  ;  Balfour's  "Second  Inquiry,"  pp.  291  - 
299.  Paige's  "  Selections,"  Sect.  XXL,  in  which 
the  opinions  of  commentators  of  the  highest  note  are 
9* 


102  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

given  ;  and  the  "  Universalist  Expositor,"  Vol.  II.  pp. 
65-68. 

XIV.  "  But  I  say  unto  you,  that  every  idle  word  that  men  shall 
speak,  they  shall  give  account  thereof  in  the  day  of  judgment." 
Matt.  xii.  36. 

For  an  explanation  of  this  passage,  see  the  remarks 
and  references  under  Sect.  IX.,  on  Matt.  x.  15. 
See  also  Paige's  "  Selections,"  Sect.  XXII. 

XV.     Matt.  xii.  41,42., 

See  the  references  in  Sect.  XII. 

XVI.  tl  He  answered  and  said  unto  them,  he  that  soweth  the  good 
seed  is  the  Son  of  Man ;  the  field  is  the  world ;  the  good  seed  are 
the  children  of  the  kingdom ;  but  the  tares  are  the  children  of  the 
wicked  one ;  the  enemy  that  sowed  them  is  the  devil ;  the  harvest  is 
the  end  of  the  world  ;  and  the  reapers  are  the  angels.  As  therefore 
the  tares  are  gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire ;  so  shall  it  be  in  the 
end  of  this  world.  The  Son  of  Man  shall  send  forth  his  angels,  and 
they  shall  gather  out  of  his  kingdom,  all  things  that  offend  and  them 
which  do  iniquity  ;  And  shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire ;  there 
shall  be  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Then  shall  the  righteous 
shine  forth,  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father.  Who  hath 
ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear."  Matt.  xiii.  37-43. 

For  a  critical  exposition  of  this  passage,  we  refer  the 
reader  to  "  Notes  and  Illustrations  of  the  Parables," 
pp.  94-104. 

We  offer  only  the  following  suggestions  in  this  place : 

To  what  time  did  Jesus  refer  by  "  the  harvest," 
which  he  declared  was  the  "  end  of  the  world  "  ?  In 
the  style  of  the  sacred  writers,  any  consummation, 
when  men  may  be  said  to  be  ripe  for  any  purpose,  is 
called  the  harvest.  (Thus  Jer.  viii.  20  ;  Joel  iii.  13  ;) 
u  Put  ye  in  the  sickle,  for  the  harvest  is  ripe  ;  come, 
get  you  down,  for  the  press  is  full,  the  fats  overflow  ; 
for  the  wickedness  is  great,"  &c.  (Matt.  ix.  37,  38  ; 
also  Rev.  xiv.  15.) 

By  the  answer  to  this  question,  it  is  settled  whether 
the  events  of  this  parable  refer  to  the  future  existence 
of  mankind,  or  whether  it  had  its  proper  fulfilment  at 
the  time  of  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  state.  The 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED,          103 

phrase  rendered  "  end  of  the  world"  is  ovnehia  TOV 
KIWVO?,  and  signifies  literally,  the  conclusion  of  the  age. 
The  same  expression  occurs  Heb.  ix.  26,  where  we 
read  that  Jesus  appeared,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  age, 
to  put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself.  As  Chris- 
tianity may  be  said  to  have  begun  when  the  Jewish  re- 
ligion ended,  so  Christ  is  said  to  have  appeared  at  the 
end  of  the  Jewish  age.  The  apostle  Paul  stated,  that 
the  end  of  the  age  had  happened  in  his  day,  u  Upon 
whom  the  ends  of  the  ages  (TCC  it^  xwv  uimrttv)  are 
come."  1  Cor.  x.  11.  The  same  subject  is  again 
spoken  of,  Matt.  xxiv.  3,  where  we  are  informed,  that 
the  disciples  asked  the  Saviour,  what  should  be  the 
sign  of  his  coming,  and  of  the  conclusion  of  the  age, 
((jwTshia  TOV  otlwvo?.)  He  speaks  of  the  end  of  that 
age,  in  verses  6,  13,  14,  of  the  same  chapter,  and  af- 
ter pointing  them  to  such  signs  as  would  infallibly  ena- 
ble them  to  discern  its  approach,  he  adds,  (ver.  34,) 
tc  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  this  generation  shall  not  pass, 
till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled."  On  the  strength  of 
this  testimony,  plain,  clear,  and  incontrovertible,  we 
say  that  the  u  harvest "  took  place  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  Mosaic  age  ;  and  we  add,  that  there  is  not  an  in- 
stance in  the  New  Testament,  in  which  the  Greek 
phrase,  rendered  "  end  of  the  world,"  in  the  passage 
on  which  we  are  remarking,  has  any  other  signification. 
It  never  should  be  forgotten,  that  "  the  end  of  the 
world,"  (vers.  39,  40,)  at  which  the  harvest  was  to  take 
place,  was  not  the  end  of  xo'a^uo?,  the  world  said  to  be 
the  field,  but  the  end  of  ulwv,  the  age,  and  unquestiona- 
bly referred  to  the  conclusion  of  the  Jewish  state. 

u  The  reapers  are  the  angels."  What  did  Jesus 
intend  by  the  angels  ?  Familiar  traditions  have  confined 
the  application  of  this  word  almost  exclusively  to  su- 
perhuman beings  ;  but  the  attentive  reader  of  the  Bible 
needs  not  to  be  informed  that  the  term  angel  is  synony- 
mous with  messenger,  and  that  it  is  applied  not  only  to 
mankind,  but  even  to  inanimate  objects.  Jesus  always 
represented  himself,  when  coming  to  destroy  the  Jewish 


104  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

state,  as  being  attended  by  angels.  "  For  the  Son  of 
man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  with  his 
angels;  *****  verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  be 
some  standing  here  which  shall  not  taste  of  death  till  they 
see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom."  Matt, 
xvi.  27,  28  ;  Mark  viii.  38,  and  ix.  1  ;  Luke  ix.  26, 
27.  Here  the  coming  of  Christ,  with  his  angels,  is 
confined  to  that  generation.  On  another  occasion,  Je- 
sus said,  "they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in 
the  clouds  of  heaven,  with  power  and  great  glory  ;  and 
he  shall  send  his  angels  with  a  great  sound  of  a  trum- 
pet ;  "  to  which  he  immediately  adds,  "  this  generation 
shall  not  pass,  till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled."  Matt. 
xxiv.  30,  31,  34.  See  also  Matt.  xxv.  31,  and  2 
Thess.  i.  7.  It  is  a  circumstance  which  confirms  our 
application  of  the  passage,  that  the  Son  of  man  sends 
forth  his  angels  to  destroy  his  enemies,  for  this  language 
is  invariably  applied  in  the  New  Testament,  to  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  whenever  that  event  is  describ- 
ed. In  the  passage  before  us,  the  angels,  or  messen- 
gers were  to  be  the  agents  of  destruction  to  the  enemies 
of  Christ  ;  and  by  comparing  this  fact  with  what  is 
stated  Matt.  xxii.  7,  we  ascertain  who  the  messengers 
of  destruction  were.  u  But  when  the  king  heard  there- 
of he  was  wroth ;  and  he  sent  forth  his  armies,  and 
destroyed  those  murderers,  and  burned  up  their  city.'* 
Here  it  is  certainly  meant  that  the  Roman  armies  were 
the  messengers  which  God 'sent  to  destroy  his  rebel- 
lious people,  the  Jews. 

We  come  now  to  consider  another  important  ques- 
tion, viz.  what  did  Jesus  signify  by  the  u furnace  of 
fire,"  into  which  the  wicked  were  cast  by  the  angels 
of  destruction,  to  whom  God  had  given  them  up  ?  We 
know  it  has  been  the  usual  opinion,  that  this  furnace  of 
fire  is  a  place  of  torment  in  the  future  world.  But  are 
there  any  who  have  yet  to  learn,  that  this  figure  was 
employed  by  the  sacred  writers  to  represent  temporal 
destruction  ?  The  bondage  Israel  suffered  under  Pha- 
raoh was  described  as  a  furnace.  "  But  the  Lord 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  105 

hath  taken  you,  and  brought  you  forth  out  of  the  iron 
furnace,  even  out  of  Egypt."  Deut.  iv.  20.  See  also, 
1  Kings  viii.  51  ;  Isa.  xlviii.  10  ;  Jer.  xi.  4.  So  the 
tremendous  calamities,  the  u  great  tribulation  "  suffered 
by  the  Jews  at  the  destruction  of  their  favorite  city,  — 
compared  with  which  the  afflictions  suffered  in  Egypt 
were  less  than  nothing,  —  are  represented  by  a  "fur- 
nace of  fire  "  ;  and  the  application  of  the  figure  to  the 
city  of  Jerusalem  is  made  so  directly  and  indisputably, 
that  the  most  obtuse  sense  must  perceive  it.  u  The 
Lord's  fire  is  in  Zion,  and  his  FURNACE  in  Jerusa- 
lem." Isa.  xxxi.  9.  A  passage  still  more  full,  and 
more  pointed,  remains  to  be  quoted.  "And  the  word 
of  the  Lord  came  unto  me,  saying,  Son  of  man,  the 
house  of  Israel  is  to  me  become  dross  ;  all  they  are 
brass,  and  tin,  and  iron,  and  lead,  in  the  midst  of  the 
furnace  ;  they  are  even  the  dross  of  silver.  There- 
fore, thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  because  ye  are  all  be- 
come dross,  behold,  therefore,  I  will  gather  you  into 
the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  as  they  gather  silver,  and  brass, 
and  iron,  and  lead,  and  tin,  into  the  midst  of  the  fur- 
nace, to  blow  the  fire  upon  it,  to  melt  it,  so  will  I  gather 
you  in  mine  anger,  and  in  my  fury,  and  I  will  leave  you 
there,  and  melt  you.  Yea,  I  will  gather  you,  and  blow 
upon  you  in  the  fire  of  my  wrath,  and  ye  shall  be 
melted  in  the  midst  thereof.  As  silver  is  melted  in  the 
midst  of  the  furnace,  so  shall  ye  be  melted  in  the  midst 
thereof ;  and  ye  shall  know  th?.t  I  the  Lord  have 
poured  out  my  fury  upon  you."  Ezek.  xxii.  17—22. 
There  cannot  remain  a  lingering  doubt,  that  the  "fur- 
nace of  fire "  was  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  into  which 
God  gathered  the  Jewish  nation,  and  there  melted  them 
in  the  fire  of  his  wrath. 

To  those  who  wish  to  examine  this  passage  more 
fully,  we  commend  Paige's  u  Selections,"  pp.  94-97, 
See  also  Balfour's  "  Second  Inquiry,"  pp.  275  -281. 
And  I  do  direct  the  reader's  attention  very  par- 
ticularly to  a  Dissertation  on  the  Phrases,  End  of  the 
World,  Last  Days,  Last  Time,  &c.  as  used  in  the 


106  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

New  Testament,  published  in  the  u  Universalist  Ex- 
positor," Vol.  I.  pp.  95-113.  And  those  who  de- 
sire to  see  the  opinion  of  the  very  learned  Dr.  Light- 
foot,  on  this  subject,  and  others  of  a  kindred  nature, 
are  referred  to  my  "  Notes  and  Illustrations  of  the  Par- 
ables," pp.  316-318,  note.  The  quotations  from 
Lightfoot  there  given,  are  invaluable. 

XVII.  "  Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  net  that 
was  cast  into  the  sea,  and  gathered  of  every  kind ;  which,  when  it 
was  full,  they  drew  to  shore,  and  sat  down,  and  gathered  the  good 
into  vessels,  but  cast  the  bad  away.     So  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the 
world  ;  the  angels  shall  come  forth,  and  sever  the  wicked  from  among 
the  just,  and  shall  cast  them  into  the  furnace  of  fire ;  there  shall  be 
wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth."     Matt.  xiii.  47-50. 

This  passage  is  explained  on  precisely  the  same  prin- 
ciples as  the  last  we  considered.  The  time  of  fulfil- 
ment is  the  same  in  both  cases,  and  the  same  subject 
is  illustrated  in  both.  Let  the  reader  study  carefully 
what  we  have  offered  on  the  preceding  passage,  viz. 
Matt.  xiii.  37-43,  and  he  will  fully  comprehend  the 
passage  now  before  us.  The  u  end  of  the  world," 
signifies  the  same  in  both  cases,  as  does  also  the  u  fur- 
nace of  fire."  The  phrases  are  the  same  in  the  Greek, 
and  in  the  English.  Balfour  says,  on  Matt.  xiii.  47  — 
50,  "  The  same  Greek  phrase,  as  in  Matt.  xiii.  37- 
43,  occurs  here,  and  is  rendered  in  the  same  way.  As 
our  Lord  is  only  illustrating  the  same  things,  and  uses 
the  very  same  figure  of  a  furnace  of  fire,  we  forbear 
either  transcribing  it  or  remarking  on  it.  The  remarks 
made  on  the  last  passage  are  sufficient  here."  "  Sec- 
ond Inquiry,"  p.  281. 

XVIII.  "  For  whosoever  will  save  his  life  shall  lose  it ;  and  who- 
soever will  lose  his  life  for  my  sake,  shall  find  it.     For  what  is  a 
man  profited,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own 
soul  ?  or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ?  "     Matt, 
xvi.  25,  26. 

The  parallel  passages  are  Mark  viii.  35-37,  and 
Luke  ix,  24,  25.  See  also  Matt.  x.  39. 

The  above  passage  is   one  of  the   principal  proof 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  107 

texts  of  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery.  We  are  very 
gravely  told,  that  Jesus  spoke  of  the  sinner  losing  his 
soul.  "  For  what  is  a  man  profited,  if  he  gain  the 
whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  SOUL  ?  or  what  shall  a 
man  give  in  exchange  for  his  SOUL  ?  "  This  is  suf- 
ficient proof,  we  are  told,  that  THE  SOUL  may  be  lost. 
But  all  this  imaginary  proof  will  vanish,  if  it  be  con- 
sidered, that  the  Greek  word  rendered  soul  here,  is  the 
same  word  which  in  the  preceding  verse  is  rendered 
life  ;  and  the  two  verses  should  have  been  translated 
thus :  u  For  whosoever  will  save  his  life  (yvx'n)  shall 
lose  it ;  and  whosoever  will  lose  his  life  (w?)  for  my 
sake,  shall  find  it.  For  what  is  a  man  profited,  if  he 
shall  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  life 
(yvxr))  ?  or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his 
life  (yi(;ri)  -?"  Thus  we  see  that  no  reference  at  all  is 
made  to  the  spirit  of  man,  but  to  his  natural  life  only  ; 
the  spirit  returns  to  God  at  death.  u  Then  shall  the 
dust  return  to  the  earth  as  it  was  ;  and  the  spirit  (nvBvpa 
in  the  LXX,)  to  God  who  gave  it."  Here  we  might 
safely  leave  this  passage  ;  but  as  we  have  at  hand  some 
very  profitable  criticisms  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  L.  R. 
Paige,  we  shall  lay  them  before  the  reader. 

It  may  be  said  that  Jesus  speaks  concerning  the  loss 
of  the  soul  ;  but  the  soul  is  very  different  from  the  life  ; 
and  therefore  the  loss  of  life  cannot  be  regarded  as  the 
great  calamity  against  which  he  cautions  his  disciples. 
I  shall  not  go  into  a  long  examination  of  the  meaning 
of  the  word  yvx*l>  here  rendered  soul.  I  shall  merely 
state  a  few  facts  which  may  assist  the  inquirer  in  right- 
ly determining  its  import  in  this  place. 

This  word  frequently  occurs  in  the  LXX,  or  the 
Greek  translation  of  the  Old  Testament.  It  is  there 
used  twice,  and  twice  only,  as  the  translation  of  Ruah, 
which  word  the  Hebrews  employed  to  denote  the 
"  Spirit,  or  an  incorporeal  substance,  as  opposed  to 
flesh,  or  a  corporeal  one."  But  it  is  used  six  hundred 
and  twenty-three  times  as  the  translation  of  Nephish, 
concerning  which  Hebrew  word,  Parkhurst,  an  Ortho- 
dox lexicographer,  writes  thus  :  —  it  "hath  been  sup- 


1.08  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

posed  to  signify  the  spiritual  part  of  man,  or  what  we 
commonly  call  his  soul  j  I  must,  for  myself,  confess, 
that  I  can  find  no  passage  where  it  hath  undoubtedly 
this  meaning."  We  shall  do  well  to  consider,  1.  wheth- 
er the  learned  men  who  translated  the  Old  Testament 
into  the  Greek  language,  understood  the  meaning  of  the 
word  yvx*l>  and  2.  whether,  if  they  judged  it  the  most 
proper  word  to  indicate  the  spiritual  part  of  man,  they 
would  probably  use  it  only  twice  as  the  translation  of  a 
word  which  has  this  meaning,  and  six  hundred  and 
twenty-three  times  as  the  translation  of  a  word  which 
Parkhurst  confesses  never  has  this  meaning  ;  or  at  least, 
he  had  never  been  able  to  find  a  satisfactory  instance 
of  the  kind. 

In  the  New  Testament,  the  usage  of  this  word  is 
somewhat  different.  It  is  sometimes  translated  soul, 
sometimes  life,  mind,  heart,  heartily,  Ghost.  It  is 
used  in  all  one  hundred  and  four  times  ;  and  setting 
aside  twelve  cases,  in  which  its  meaning  is  disputed,  it 
signifies  the  whole  person  in  eleven  instances  ;  the  in- 
tellect in  thirty  ;  the  natural  life  in  forty-eight ;  and  is 
expressly  opposed  to  the  spirit  in  three.  If  we  include 
its  use  in  a  verbal  or  participial  form,  it  is  used  in  all, 
for  the  whole  person,  eleven  times  ;  for  the  intellect, 
thirty-one  ;  for  the  natural  life,  fifty-two  ;  and  is  opposed 
to  the  spirit  nine  times.* 

Hence  there  can  be  no  necessity  to  understand  this 
word  to  mean  the  spiritual  part  of  man,  in  the  passage 
under  consideration,  merely  from  its  own  force  ;  for  in 
more  than  half  the  instances  where  it  occurs  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  almost  invariably  in  the  Old  Testament, 
it  will  not  admit  such  a  signification.  It  certainly  indi- 
cates the  natural  life  in  the  preceding  verse,  and  is  so 
translated  : —  u  Whosoever  will  save  his  life,  shall  lose 

*  In  the  places  to  which  I  refer,  where  something  opposed  to  spirit 
is  signified,  the  word  is  translated  soul,  1  Cor.  xv.  45.  1  Thes.  v.  28. 
Heb.  iv.  12;  natural,  1  Cor.  ii.  14.  xv.  44,  (twice,)  4G;  sensual, 
James  iii.  15.  Jude  19.  In  the  first  three  instances,  the  original 
word  is  V'f/j; ;  in  the  other  six,  it  is  i/'u/ixo?  formed  from  ^v/>lt  and 
of  similar  signification  ;  and  it  may  be  observed,  that  the  last-named 
word  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the  Bible. 


UNIVERSITY 

NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGEfflIXP»AINEIO  F    10ft 


it  ;  and  whosoever  will  lose  his  life  fornty  aake,-shatl 
find  it."  ver.  25.  Our  translators  had  too  much  good 
sense  to  render  it  soul,  in  this  case,  for  they  saw  the 
absurdity  of  saying,  <c  whosoever  will  save  his  soul 
shall  lose  it,  and  whosoever  will  lose  his  soul  for  my 
sake,  shall  find  it.'7  I  can  see  no  good  reason  for  giving 
different  translations  of  the  same  word  in  these  two 
verses.  Its  meaning  appears  to  be  the  same  in  both. 
So  evident  is  this,  that  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  with  all  his 
prejudices,  protests  against  the  common  translation 
thus  ;  "  On  what  authority  many  have  translated  the 
word  ifjvxfj,  in  the  25th  verse,  life,  and  in  this  verse, 
sow/,  1  know  not  ;  but  am  certain  it  means  life,  in  both 
places."  If  the  word  had  at  first  been  translated  life 
in  both  these  verses,  I  venture  to  say,  that  no  English 
reader  would  ever  have  suspected,  that  the  least  danger 
was  intimated  of  losing  the  immortal  soul,  or  exposing 
it  to  endless  torment. 

XIX.  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  except  ye  be  converted,  and  be- 
come as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  Matt,  xviii.  3. 

The  parallel  passages  are  Mark  x.  15,  and  Luke 
xviii.  17.  For  our  views  of  the  phrase,  "kingdom  of 
heaven,"  see  our  remarks  under  Section  III.  of  this 
chapter,  on  Matt.  v.  20.  What  we  have  there  said, 
fully  explains  the  passage  before  us,  so  far  as  its  bearing 
on  Universalism  is  concerned. 

By  a  reference  to  the  context,  it  will  be  seen,  that 
the  disciples  were  disputing  who  should  be  the  greatest 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  —  not  meaning  the  kingdom 
of  immortal  glory,  but  the  kingdom  of  Christ  upon 
the  earth.  Jesus  disapproved  their  ambition,  and  re- 
plied, "  Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  like 
little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  "  that  is,  except  ye  curb  this  ambition,  and  cul- 
tivate the  meek,  lovely  spirit  of  a  little  child,  ye  cannot 
be  my  disciples,  nor  subjects  of  my  moral  reign. 
Such  is  the  evident  sense  of  the  passage.  The  best 
10 


110  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

commentators  give  it  a  like  construction.  See  Paige's 
"  Selections,"  Sect.  XXIX. 

For  a  very  sensible  article  on  the  subject  of  u  Evan- 
gelical Conversion,"  see  "Universalist Expositor,"  Vol. 
II.  pp.  38-58.  See,  also,  Skinner's  "  Universalism 
Illustrated  and  Defended,"  pp.  306-314. 

XX.  Matt,  xviii.  8,  9.  For  an  illustration  of  this 
passage,  see  remarks  under  Sect.  XXXIV.  of  this  chap- 
ter, on  Mark  ix.  43  —  48. 

XXI.  "  Then  his  lord,  after  that  he  had  called  him,  said  unto 
him,  O  thou  wicked  servant,  I  forgave  thee  all  that  debt,  because  thou 
desiredst  me.  Shouldest  not  thou  also  have  had  compassion  on  thy 
fellow-servant,  even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee  ?  And  his  Lord  was  wroth, 
and  delivered  him  to  the  tormentors,  till  he  should  pay  all  that  was 
due  unto  him.  So  likewise  shall  my  heavenly  Father  do  also  unto 
you,  if  ye  from  your  hearts  forgive  not  every  one  his  brother  their 
trespasses."  Matt,  xviii.  32  -  35. 

This  is  a  part  of  the  parable  of  the  unforgiving  ser- 
vant. A  certain  servant  owed  his  lord  ten  thousand 
talents, — a  great  sum.  As  he  had  nothing  wherewith 
to  pay,  his  lord,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  coun- 
try, ordered  him,  his  wife,  his  children,  and  all  he  had, 
to  be  sold,  and  payment  to  be  made.  He  entreated  his 
master  to  have  patience,  and  he  would  pay  him  all. 
To  this  the  master  assented.  But  this  same  servant 
went  out,  and  found  one  of  his  fellow-servants,  who 
owed  him  the  trifling  sum  of  one  hundred  pence  ;  and 
he  laid  hands  on  him  with  violence,  and  demanded  pay- 
ment. His  fellow-servant  besought  him,  as  he  had  be- 
sought his  lord  in  his  own  case,  to  have  patience,  and 
he  would  pay  him  all.  But  this  servant,  who  had  been 
forgiven,  was  nothing  softened  by  his  master's  exhibi- 
tion of  kindness,  but  cast  his  poor  debtor  into  prison, 
until  he  should  pay  the  whole  debt.  When  his  fellow- 
servants  saw  this,  they  reported  the  circumstances  to 
their  master  ;  and  the  master  said,  as  in  the  words 
quoted  at  the  head  of  this  section  ;  "  O  thou  wicked 
servant,"  &c.  The  fault  of  the  unforgiving  servant 
was,  that  he  did  not  imitate  his  master's  example  of 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  Ill 

clemency  :  his  master  then  punished  him,  by  compelling 
him  to  pay  the  whole  debt.  What  is  there  in  this  to 
substantiate  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery  ? 

u  So  likewise  shall  my  heavenly  Father  do  also  unto 
you,  if  ye,  from  your  hearts,  forgive  not  every  one  his 
brother  their  trespasses  ;  "  that  is,  God  will  punish  you 
justly,  for  ingratitude  and  for  a  want  of  forgiveness. 
Cruelty  is  a  greater  sin  in  those  who  feel  and  know  that 
they  have  had  much  forgiven  ;  and  such  deserve  a  se- 
verer retribution,  than  those  who  are  not  sensible  of  the 
benefits  which  have  been  conferred  on  them.  We  are 
not  to  suppose,  however,  that  Jesus  meant,  that  the 
conduct  of  the  Divine  Being  towards  the  unforgiving, 
was,  in  all  respects,  like  that  of  the  lord  who  thrust  his 
servant  into  prison,  and  delivered  him  to  the  tormen- 
tors ;  that  is,  we  are  not,  from  this,  to  attribute  any  cru- 
elty to  God.  For,  first,  nothing  is  more  foreign  to  his 
nature  ;  and,  second,  nothing  is  more  foreign  to  the  na- 
ture of  Christ,  the  author  of  the  parable  ;  and,  third, 
this  would  be  charging  upon  God  the  very  conduct 
which  was  so  highly  disapproved  in  the  unforgiving  ser- 
vant. The  great  sin  charged  on  him  was,  that  he  re- 
fused to  forgive,  and  treated  his  debtor  with  cruelty  ; 
and  from  this  to  charge  the  same  conduct  on  God, 
would  be  to  subvert  the -very  design  of  the  parable, 
which  was  to  inculcate  the  virtue  of  tenderness  from 
the  divine  example.  We  are  not  to  suppose,  that  God 
resembles  this  king  in  his  execrable  cruelty,  any  more 
than  he  resembled  the  unjust  judge  in  his  injustice. 
Luke  xviii.  2-5.  There  was  a  certain  reason  why 
God  was  compared  to  that  unjust  judge,  and  that  rea- 
son was  sufficient  to  justify  the  comparison  ;  and  when 
we  have  ascertained  what  that  reason  was,  we  should 
pursue  the  comparison  no  further.  Thus  it  is  said  of 
Christ,  he  should  come  "  as  a  thief  in  the  night."  The 
object  here  is,  to  show  that  he  would  come  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly,  when  men  were  not  looking  for  him. 
This  was  sufficient  to  justify  the  comparison,  and  it 
should  be  pursued  no  further  ;  for  it  would  be  folly  to 


1 12  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

go  on,  and  say,  that  Jesus  came  like  a  thief,  to  steal,  to 
kill,  and  destroy.  So,  in  the  parable  before  us,  the  ob- 
ject was  to  show,  that  God  is  disposed  to  kindness 
and  lenity  ;  that  men  should  be  influenced  by  his  ex- 
ample ;  he  disapproved,  and  would  punish  an  unkind 
and  unforgiving  spirit.  In  this  respect,  he  was  like  the 
king,  though  he  did  not  resemble  the  king  in  his  cruelty. 
Having  thus  ascertained  the  object  of  the  parable,  it  is 
enough,  and  we  need  pursue  the  comparison  to  no 
greater  extent.  It  is  a  good  remark  which  we  find  in 
the  old  anonymous  commentary  ;  "  In  parables,  we  are 
to  consider  the  scope  and  intention  of  the  speaker,  and 
not  over-curiously  to  discuss  every  particular  ;  so  here 
we  must  know,  that  God  doth  not  always  show  extreme 
rigor,  until  the  vindication  of  his  justice,  or  the  com- 
pulsion of  a  sinner  to  repentance  (which  light  afflictions 
do  not  always  effect)  necessarily  require  it.  *  *  *  *  * 
Similitudes,  they  say,  do  not  run  on  four  feet,  they  will 
go  current  if  they  agree  in  one>  or  a  few  points,  ac- 
cording to  the  scope  thereof,  or  intent  of  the  speaker." 
XXII.  "  Then  said  Jesus  unto  his  disciples,  Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
that  a  rich  man  shall  hardly  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And 
again  I  say  unto  you,  it  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of 
a  needle,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 
Matt.  xix.  23,  24.  See  also  Mark  x.  24,  25  ;  Luke  xiii.  34, 35. 

This  passage  has  been  adduced  by  some  to  prove  the 
doctrine  of  endless  misery.  We  are  confident,  that  the 
true  sense  of  the  passage  gives  no  support  to  that  God- 
dishonoring  sentiment. 

For  the  sense  of  the  phrase,  "  kingdom  of  God," 
we  refer  again  to  what  we  have  said  in  Sect.  III.  on 
Matt.  v.  20. 

We  believe  the  true,  object  of  Christ,  in  uttering  the 
passage  before  us,  is  clearly  set  forth  in  the  following 
article,  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou,  2nd. 

"  This  passage  is  generally  understood  to  teach  a 
peculiar  difficulty,  almost  an  impossibility,  for  a  rich 
man  to  become  truly  religious.  And  the  next  words, 
as  they  are  commonly  interpreted,  confirm  this  im- 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          113 

pression  ;  c  And  again  I  say  unto  you,  it  is  easier  for 
a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,  than  for  a 
rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  When  his 
disciples  heard  it,  they  were  exceedingly  amazed,  say- 
ing, who  then  can  be  saved  ?  But  Jesus  beheld  them, 
and  said  unto  them  ;  With  men  this  is  impossible,  but 
with  God  all  things  are  possible.'  What  can  be  more 
evident,  it  will  be  asked,  than  that  Christ  here  meant  to 
teach  that  it  was  a  very  difficult  thing  indeed,  for  a  rich 
man  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  and  that,  although 
it  was  possible  for  God  to  bring  about  such  an  event, 
yet  it  was  a  case  of  very  rare  occurrence  !  We  frankly 
acknowledge,  that  this  is,  without  doubt,  the  plain  mean- 
ing of  the  words  !  But  it  does  not  follow,  that  they 
intimate  any  peculiar  difficulty  in  a  rich  man's  becoming 
converted  to  the  belief  of  Christianity,  or  becoming 
truly  pious. 

"  What,  then,  did  Christ  mean  ?  what  is  the  general 
truth  he  intended  to  assert,  in  the  passage  under  consid- 
eration ?  Nothing  more  is  necessary  to  a  satisfactory 
answer,  than  a  clear  understanding  of  the  circumstances 
in  which  the  expression  was  uttered. 

"  It  is  a  fact  not  generally  considered,  perhaps,  that 
during  his  personal  ministry,  Christ  admitted  into  his 
'  little  flock  '  none  but  such  as  actually  forsook  all  their 
earthly  possessions,  and  followed  him  in  his  travels  from 
place  to  place,  or  went  forth  at  his  command,  to  preach, 
without  any  pecuniary  recompense  whatever.  When 
he  called  Peter  and  Andrew,  James  and  John,  they 
left  their  nets,  and  followed  him  ;  when  he  called  Mat- 
thew, the  publican,  he  left  his  office  at  the  receipt 
of  custom  ;  when  a  certain  scribe  proposed  to  follow 
him  whithersoever  he  went,  Christ  warned  him  of  the 
consequent  hardships,  saying,  '  the  foxes  have  holes,  and 
the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man  hath 
not  where  to  lay  his  head  ;  '  when  one  of  his  disciples 
asked  leave  to  go  and  bury  his  father,  the  reply  was, 
4  Follow  me,  and  let  the  dead  bury  their  dead.'  In 
short,  the  rule  which  he  established,  and  which  he  ex- 
10* 


114  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

acted  to  the  very  letter,  was,  c  whosoever  he  be  of  you 
that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath,  he  cannot  be  my  dis- 
ciple.' And  the  wisdom  of  so  rigorous  a  rule,  in  that 
critical  juncture,  is  evident  from  the  consideration,  that 
a  few  devoted  servants  who  had  already  broken  every 
tie  upon  the  world,  must  have  been  more  efficient  in  his 
cause,  than  thousands  of  lukewarm  and  timid  advocates, 
who  had  to  compromise  between  their  stern  duty  and 
the  safety,  the  conveniences,  and  the  blandishments  of 
life.  He  foresaw,  too,  that  the  time  would  soon  come, 
when  the  sacrifice  must  inevitably  be  made  ;  and  he 
knew,  that  they  who  would  not  submit  to  it  at  first, 
would  likewise  fail  him  in  the  hour  of  trial,  and  bring 
disgrace  on  the  cause  they  attempted  to  support.  The 
sacrifice  was,  therefore,  required  of  them  at  the  outset, 
that  they  might  at  once  give  a  pledge  of  their  devoted- 
ness,  and  strip  themselves  of  every  incumbrance. 

u  Under  such  conditions,  it  was,  of  course,  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  induce  the  rich  to  become  his  disci- 
ples, and  enter  his  kingdom.  They  might,  indeed,  be- 
lieve on  him,  and  favor  his  cause  ;  they  might  observe 
the  moral  precepts  he  taught,  and  secretly  practise  his 
religion.  But  all  this  alone,  though  it  rendered  them 
good  men,  in  their  private  sphere,  did  not  adequately  fit 
them  for  the  momentous  duty  to  which  the  servants  of 
his  rising  kingdom  were  then  called.  The  rich,  least 
of  all,  could  be  expected  to  throw  themselves  utterly, 
destitute  and  unfriended,  into  an  undertaking,  where  ha- 
tred and  persecution  were  the  certain  reward,  and  death 
the  probable  end.  Therefore,  in  the  striking  language 
of  our  Saviour,  it  was  '  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through 
the  eye  of  a  needle,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  the 
kingdom  of  God.  With  men,  it  was  impossible  ;  but 
with  God,  all  things  were  possible.' 

"  That  we  have  correctly  explained  this  passage,  is 
evident  from  the  very  next  words  ;  c  Then  answered 
Peter,  and  said  unto  him,  Behold,  we  have  forsaken  all 
and  followed  thee  ;  what  shall  we  have  therefore  ? '  We 
ought  also  to  mention  the  particular  incident,  as  it  is  re- 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          115 

lated  by  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke,  which  gave  rise  to 
all  this  conversation.  A  certain  ruler  came  and  asked 
Christ  what  he  should  do  to  have  eternal  life  ;  and  was 
answered,  '  keep  the  commandments.'  '  All  these,' 
said  he,  '  have  I  kept  from  my  youth  up.'  '  Then  Je- 
sus beholding  him,  loved  him,  and  said  unto  him,  One 
thing  thou  lackest ;  go  thy  way,  sell  whatsoever  thou 
hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure 
in  heaven,  and  come,  take  up  thy  cross,  and  follow  me. 
And  he  was  sad  at  that  saying,  and  went  away  grieved  ; 
for  he  had  great  possessions.'  It  is  evident,  that  this 
was  a  good  man,  in  the  true  sense  of  that  term,  and,  as 
such,  beloved  by  Jesus.  But  he  was  not  perfect.  He 
wanted  that  fortitude  and  self-devoting  zeal  necessary  to 
meet  the  trying  exigencies  of  our  Saviour's  cause.  He 
could  not  d'escend  at  once,  from  opulence  to  absolute 
poverty,  and  exchange  a  fixed  residence  for  the  life  of 
a  disciple." 

XXIII.  "  And  when  the  king  came  in  to  see  the  guests,  he  saw 
there  a  man  which  had  not  on  a  wedding  garment.  And  he  saith 
unto  him,  Friend,  how  earnest  thou  in  hither,  not  having  a  wedding 
garment  ?  and  he  was  speechless.  Then  said  the  king  to  the  ser- 
vants, Bind  him  hand  and  foot  and  take  him  away,  and  cast  him  into 
outer  darkness  ;  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth."  Matt. 
xxii.  11  - 13.  See  also  Luke  xiv.  16  -  24. 

These  words  form  a  part  of  the  parable  of  the  mar- 
riage feast,  extending  from  verse  2  —  13.  Those  who 
wish  to  see  the  whole  subject  treated  at  length,  are  re- 
ferred to  my  "  Illustrations  of  the  Parables,"  pp.  286- 
299  ;  and  Paige's  "  Selections,"  section  XXXIV. 
That  the  parable  does  not  refer  to  the  things  of  eternity, 
but  to  the  things  of  time,  is  evident  from  the  nature  of 
the  punishment,  which  was  inflicted  on  those  who  re- 
jected the  invitation  to  the  feast,  as  described  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  ;  u  But  when  the  king  heard  thereof,  he 
was  wroth  ;  and  he  sent  forth  his  armies,  and  destroyed 
those  murderers,  and  burned  up  their  c%."  ver.  7. 
Such  punishment  as  this,  we  suppose,  will  not  be  in- 
flicted in  the  future  world. 


116  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

The  above  would  suffice  to  show,  that  the  passage  at 
the  head  of  this  section  has  no  reference  to  the  things 
of  eternity  ;  but,  for  the  gratification  of  serious  inquirers, 
we  offer  the  following  remarks  on  the  case  of  the  man 
which  had  not  on  the  wedding  garment.  He  was  pres- 
ent at  the  wedding,  without  being  properly  qualified 
therefor,  and  for  this  breach  of  custom,  he  was  cast 
out. 

By  the  guest  without  the  "  wedding  garment,"  Jesus 
designed  to  represent  such  of  the  Jews,  as,  having  nom- 
inally embraced  Christianity,  did  not  possess  the  vir- 
tues of  the  Christian  character,  —  such  as  cried, 
"  Lord,  Lord,"  but  did  not  the  will  of  God.  In  Rev. 
xix.  8,  we  read;  "  And  to  her  was  granted,  that  she 
should  be  arrayed  in  fine  linen,  clean  and  white  ;  for 
the  fine  linen  is  the  righteousness  of  saints ;  "  and 
again,  in  vii.  13,  14  ;  "  What  are  these  which  are  ar- 
rayed in  white  robes  9  and  whence  came  they  ?  These 
are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have 
washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood 
of  the  lamb."  Notwithstanding  the  Jews  generally  re- 
jected the  gospel,  and  made  light  of  the  invitation  to 
the  "  marriage  feast,"  some  of  them,  it  is  well  known, 
went  in  with  the  Gentiles,  and  were  guests.  But  not 
all  those  that  went  in  were  fit  subjects-  of  the  kingdom. 
There  were  some  claiming  to  be  Christ's  disciples,  who 
professed  to  cast  out  devils,  and  to  do  many  wonderful 
works  in  his  name,  to  whom  he  said,  in  the  day  of  his 
coming  to  destroy  the  Jews  ;  "  I  never  knew  you  ; 
depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity."  Matt.  viii. 
21-23. 

These,  we  think,  were  represented  by  the  guest 
without  the  "wedding  garment."  He  accepted  the 
invitation  to  the  feast,  and  mixed  with  the  approved 
guests  ;  and  was  detected,  exposed,  and  punished,  be- 
cause he  was  not  arrayed  in  the  dress  he  should  have 
worn  at  the  feast.  The  order  was  given  to  the  ser- 
vants, to  "bind  him  hand  and  foot,  and  take  him  away, 
and  cast  him  into  outer  darkness  ;  there  shall  be  weep- 
ing and  gnashing  of  teeth."  This  was  the  fate  which 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  1 17 

awaited  all  the  Jews  who  rejected  Jesus  Christ.  (Matt, 
viii.  12  ;  Luke  xiii.  28.)  It  was  the  fate  of  those 
represented  by  the  tares,  in  the  parable  of  the  Tares  of 
the  Field  (Matt.  xiii.  42)  ;  of  the  wicked,  represented 
by  the  bad  fish,  which  were  taken  in  the  net  (xiii. 
50)  ;  of  the  Unfaithful  Servant  (xxiv.  51)  ;  and  of 
the  Unprofitable  Servant  (xxv.  30). 

Previously  to  bringing  our  remarks  on  this  passage  to 
a  close,  we  wish  to  offer  a  few  observations  in  illustra- 
tion of  the  phrases  "  outer  darkness, "  and  "  weeping 
and  gnashing  of  teeth."  These  expressions  are  found 
in  the  following  passages  ;  Matt.  viii.  12  ;  xiii.  42,  50  ; 
xxii.  13;  xxiv.  61  ;  xxv.  30  ;  Luke  xiii.  28.  The  ex- 
pression, "outer  darkness,"  is  derived  from  the  circum- 
stances of  Jewish  weddings.  The  nuptial  ceremonies 
took  place  at  night.  "  Hence  at  those  suppers,  the  house 
of  reception  was  filled  with  lights,  called  torches,  lamps, 
candles,  and  lanterns,  by  Athenaeus  and  Plutarch  ;  so 
they  who  were  admitted  to  the  banquet,  had  the  benefit 
of  the  light ;  but  they  who  were  shut  out  were  in  dark- 
ness ;  that  is,  the  darkness  on  the  outside  of  the  house,  in 
which  the  guests  were  ;  which  must  have  appeared  more 
abundantly  gloomy,  when  compared  with  the  profusion 
of  light  within  the  guest  chamber."  The  phrase,  '•'•outer 
darkness^  was  derived  from  these  circumstances  ;  and 
as  those  who  were  thrust  out  were  exposed  to  shame 
and  disappointment,  it  is  said  they  wept  and  gnashed 
their  teeth  ;  — a  proverbial  expression  to  describe  their 
extreme  anguish.  These  expressions  have  long  been  ap- 
plied to  the  imagined  misery  of  the  damned,  in  the  future 
world.  We  have  endeavoured  to  give  their  primitive 
sense.  They  are  a  part  of  the  parable,  and  are  to  be  un- 
derstood as  representing  the  extreme  misery  of  the  Jews, 
excluded  from  the  kingdom  of  the  gospel,  shut  out  from 
the  light  of  truth,  enveloped  in  the  darkness  of  error, 
and  suffering  the  tremendous  misery  brought  upon  them 
at  the  destruction  of  their  city  and  nation.  This  is  not 
only  their  primitive,  but  their  only  application.  If  this 
was  the  sense  Jesus  affixed  to  them,  what  right  have 


1 1 8  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  doctors  of  the  church  to  give  them  any  other  sense  ? 
The  parable  now  under  consideration  was  completely 
fulfilled  within  fifty  years  after  the  Saviour's  death  ;  and 
there  is  no  reason  that  any  part  of  it  should  be  supposed 
to  refer  to  the  events  of  the  future  existence.  The 
words  of  the  Great  Teacher  should  be  interpreted  with 
the  greatest  caution  ;  their  original  meaning  should  be 
sought  ;  and  when  this  is  ascertained,  it  should  not  be 
put  aside,  or  caused  to  share  credence  with  any  secon- 
dary sense  whatsoever. 

XXIV.  "  Ye  serpents,  ye  generation  of  vipers  !  how  can  ye  es- 
cape the  damnation  of  hell."     Matt,  xxiii.  33. 

In  this  place  Jesus  was  discoursing  of  the  judgments 
which  were  then  impending  over  the  Jews  ;  and  he 
says,  verse  34,  4<  all  these  things  shall  come  upon  this 
generation."  On  this  Dr.  Whitby  remarks,  that  it  sig- 
nifies "  in  that  very  age,  or  whilst  some  of  that  genera- 
tion of  men  lived  ;  for  the  phrase,  this  generation,  never 
bears  any  other  sense  in  the  New  Testament,  than  the 
men  of  this  age."  Com.  on  Matt.  xxiv.  34.  Let  it  be 
particularly  remembered,  that  the  calamity  which  was 
described  here  by  the  word  Gehenna,  was  a  temporal 
calamity,  and  was  to  come  on  the  generation  which  was 
on  the  earth  at  the  time  of  the  Saviours  ministry.  If 
it  be  asked,  what  calamity  it  was,  we  reply,  the  same  ca- 
lamity that  Jeremiah  (Jer.  chap.  vii.  29  —  34,  and  xix. 
1  —  15)  had  described  under  the  figure  of  Gehenna,  viz. 
the  destruction  of  the  city  and  nation  of  the  Jews, 
which  is  described  (Matt.  xxiv.  21)  as  a  "  great  tribu- 
lation, such  as  was  not  since  the  beginning  of  the  world 
to  this  time,  no,  nor  ever  shall  be.'7 

XXV.  "  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets, 
and  stonest  them  which  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have 
gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens 
under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not."     Matt,  xxiii.  37.     Luke  xiii. 
34,  35. 

This  passage  is  very  frequently  used  to  sustain  the 
doctrine  of  endless  misery,  but  we  think  such  a  use 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          119 

altogether  wrong.  For  how  can  it  be  thought,  that 
Jesus,  in  these  words,  was  referring  to  the  things  of 
eternity,  when  he  had  just  declared,  u  All  these  things 
shall  come  upon  this  generation  "  ?  that  is,  in  that  very 
age,  and  whilst  some  of  that  generation  of  men  lived. 
Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  the  Methodist,  certainly  does  not 
seem  to  suppose,  that  the  punishment  spoken  of  was  in 
the  future  state.  He  says,  "  The  metaphor  which  our 
Lord  uses  here,  is  a  very  beautiful  one.  When  the  hen 
sees  the  bird  of  prey  coming,  she  makes  a  noise  to  as- 
semble her  chickens,  that  she  may  cover  them  with  her 
wings  from  the  danger.  The  Roman  eagle  is  about  to 
fall  upon  the  Jewish  state,  —  nothing  can  prevent  this 
but  their  conversion  to  God  through  Christ, — Jesus  cries 
throughout  the  land,  publishing  the  Gospel  of  reconcil- 
iation, —  they  would  not  assemble,  and  the  Roman  eagle 
came  and  destroyed  them."  Certainly,  Dr.  Clarke 
would  not  have  used  such  terms,  had  he  supposed  the 
punishment  to  be  in  the  immortal  state. 

But  let  it  be  remembered,  that  the  Lord  Jesus,  on 
the  very  occasion  when  he  uttered  the  words  we  are 
considering,  stated  that  the  very  identical  persons,  to 
whom  he  was  then  speaking,  should  at  some  time  come 
to  him,  and  hail  him  as  blessed.  See  the  words  :  "  I 
say  unto  you,  ye  shall  not  see  me  henceforth,  till  ye 
shall  say,  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,"  (verse  39.)  Now  the  truth  of  this  declaration 
of  our  Lord  shall  in  the  end  be  fully  verified,  if  not  in 
this  world,  then  in  some  other.  Those  who  once  de- 
rided the  Saviour,  shall  hail  him  as  blessed  :  u  Blessed 
is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  "  This 
shall  be  fulfilled,"  says  Adam  Clarke,  "  after  the  fulness 
of  the  Gentiles  is  brought  in,  when  the  word  of  life 
shall  again  be  sent  unto  you,  then  will  ye  rejoice,  and 
bless,  and  praise  him  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  with  full  and  final  salvation  for  the  lost  sheep  of 
the  house  of  Israel."  So  much  for  Clarke.  He  re- 
fers for  a  confirmation  of  his  statement,  to  Rom.  xi.  26, 
27.  The  words  we  are  considering  were  addressed  to 


120  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

Jews.  That  they  were  not  intended  to  teach  the  doc- 
trine of  endless  torment,  is  evident  from  the  fact,  that 
Paul  assures  us  of  the  final  salvation  of  the  whole 
Jewish  nation.  See  Heb,  viii.  10—12. 

XXVI.  "  But  he  that  shall  endure  unto  the  end,  the  same  shall 
be  saved."    Matt.  xxiv.  13. 

This  passage  is  thought  to  teach  the  doctrine  of  end- 
less misery  by  implication  ;  for  if  he  that  shall  endure 
unto  the  end  shall  be  saved,  then  he  that  shall  not 
endure  unto  the  end,  shall  not  be  saved.  The  infer- 
ence is  very  just  ;  but  we  should  inquire  what  the  Sa- 
viour here  intended  by  "the  end"*?  and  from  what 
men  would  be  saved  if  they  endured  unto  the  end  ? 

The  end  of  which  he  spake  was  the  end  of  the  Jew- 
ish state,  which  was  to  take  place  during  the  lifetime  of 
some  of  the  persons-  whom  he  addressed.  Matt.  xvi. 
27,  28  ;  Mark  viii.  38  ;  ix.  1  ;  Luke  ix.  26,  27  ;  John 
xxi.  22,  23.  That  the  then  present  generation  were  to 
watch  for  the  coming  of  "  the  end,"  is  evident  from 
Matt.  xxiv.  15-21,  40-44.  The  particular  day  and 
hour  when  ,this  should  happen  Jesus  did  not  permit  his 
disciples  to  know,  verse  36  ;  but  he  explicitly  assured 
them  it  should  take  place  during  that  generation. 
"  Now  learn  a  parable  of  the  fig-tree  ;  when  his  branch 
is  yet  tender,  and  putteth  forth  leaves,  ye  know  that 
summer  is  nigh  :  so  likewise  ye,  when  ye  shall  see  all 
these  things,  know  that  it  [the  end]  is  near,  even  at  the 
doors.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  This  generation  shall 
not  pass,  till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled."  Verse  32- 
34.  This  settles  the  question,  beyond  all  controversy, 
that  the  passage  at  the  head  of  this  section,  has  exclu- 
clusive  reference  to  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  Je- 
rusalem, when  the  faithful  disciples  should  be  saved 
from  the  "  great  tribulation,"  which  came  upon  the 
Jewish  nation. 

XXVII.  Matt.  xxv.  1-13. 

See  Luke  xii.  35-37,  which  is  the  parallel  place. 
The  passage  now  before  us  refers  to  the  same  time, 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          121 

and  the  same  events  which  are  mentioned  in  Matt, 
xxiv.  for  the  two  chapters  xxiv.  and  xxv.  are  one  con- 
tinued discourse,  on  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish 
state,  and  the  circumstances  then  to  transpire. 

The  remark  of  Kenrick  is  very  just :  "  The  word 
then,  with  which  this  parable  begins,  shows  that  our 
Lord  is  still  speaking  upon  the  same  subject  about 
which  he  had  been  discoursing  in  the  last  chapter,  viz. 
the  period  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem."*  To 
the  same  purport  is  the  comment  of  Bishop  Pearce. 
"  c  Then  shall  the  kingdom  of  heaven,'  that  is,  at  that 
time,  and  under  those  circumstances.  This  shows, 
that  Jesus,  in  this  chapter,  is  speaking  on  the  same 
subject  as  in  the  foregoing  one,  viz.  what  was  to  hap- 
pen at  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  state."  And 
again,  on  ver.  13,  the  Bishop  says,  "  This  plainly 
shows,  that  what  was  said  before  in  this  chapter,  relates 
to  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  state,  expressed  by 
the  Son  of  man's  coming,  as  in  chap.  xvi.  27,  28.  f 

It  will  be  hardly  possible  for  the  careful  reader  to 
mistake  the  true  application  of  this  parable.  By  con- 
sulting ver.  13,  he  will  perceive  that  Jesus  himself 
made  the  application  of  it.  In  deducing  the  lesson  he 
meant  to  enforce,  he  said,  "  WATCH,  therefore,  for  ye 
know  neither  the  day  nor  the  hour  wherein  the  Son  of 
man  cometh."  Compare  this  with  ver.  42  of  chap, 
xxiv.  It  is  evident,  that  the  design  of  the  Saviour 
was  to  teach  his  followers  watchfulness,  in  view  of  his 
coming  to  destroy  the  Jewish  state.  Dr.  Proudfit,  an 
orthodox  writer  of  high  repute,  and  who  not  very  often 
departs  from  the  common  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, allows  that  this  parable  has  primary  reference  to 
the  Jews.  We  give  his  sentiments  on  the  subject. 
u  These  words  may  be  considered  as  referring,  pri- 
marily and  principally,  to  the  people  of  the  Jews. 
The  slumber  and  sleep,  which  the  virgins  were  indulg- 
ing, may  be  designed  to  express  the  deep  and  deplora- 

*  Expos,  on  the  place.  t  Comm.  on  Matt.  xxv.  1, 13. 

11 


122  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

ble  infatuation  of  that  nation  ;  they  remained  unalarmed 
and  unreclaimed,  amidst  the  most  pointed  and  repeated 
admonitions  of  our  Lord  and  his  apostles.  By  the 
coming  of  the  bridegroom,  mentioned  in  the  sixth 
verse,  is  probably  implied  the  appearance  of  the  Son 
of  God  for  the  destruction  of  their  city,  the  subversion 
of  their  temple,  and  utter  overthrow  and  dispersion  as 
a  nation.  This  event  occurred  at  midnight,  that  is, 
at  a  period  altogether  unexpected  ;  they  did  eat,  they 
drank,  they  bought,  they  sold,  they  planted,  they 
builded,  they  were  absorbed  in  their  secular  pursuits 
and  gratifications,  until  sudden  destruction  came  upon 
them,  as  travail  upon  a  woman  with  child."  * 

The  phrase  "kingdom  of  heaven  "  should  here  be 
understood  somewhat  as  the  word  "church"  is  now 
generally  used,  viz.  to  signify  the  professed  followers 
of  Christ.  They  were  represented  by  the  virgins,  — 
those  who  watched  for  their  master's  coming,  by  the 
wise  virgins,  and  those  who  were  regardless  of  that 
event  by  the  foolish.  Christians  were  too  prone,  like 
these  virgins,  to  slumber.  Paul,  in  writing  to  the  Ro- 
mans, endeavoured  to  awake  them.  "It  is  high  time 
to  awake  out  of  sleep."  Rom.  xiii.  11.  Addressing 
the  Thessalonians,  the  same  apostle  said,  "  For  your- 
selves know  perfectly,  that  the  day  of  the  Lord  so 
cometh  as  a  thief  in  the  night.  *****  Therefore, 
let  us  not  sleep,  as  do  others,  but  let  us  watch  and  be 
sober."  1  Thess.  v.  2,  6.  By  the  coming  of  the 
bridegroom  in  splendor,  with  his  attendants,  Jesus 
represented  his  own  coming,  in  his  glory,  with  his 
angels,  or  messengers,  at  the  destruction  of  the  Jews. 
As  the  wise  virgins  entered  with  the  bridegroom  to  the 
marriage,  so  the  watchful  Christians  entered  into  the 
enjoyment  of  all  the  blessings  which  accrued  to  the 
church  from  that  signal  destruction  of  its  enemies, 
which  took  place  at  the  coming  of  Christ ;  and,  as  the 
foolish  virgins  were  excluded  from  the  marriage,  so  the 

*  Lectures  on  the  Parables,  1820,  pp.  72,  73. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          123 

heedless,  sleeping  professors,  who  did  not  watch  for 
their  Lord,  were  excluded  from  the  blessings  which 
the  watchful  enjoyed,  and  were  shut  out  in  darkness 
and  misery  with  the  hypocritical  Jews,  the  avowed 
enemies  of  Jesus  Christ.  Kenrick  will  be  found  to 
confirm  the  views  here  advanced.  Remarking  on  ver. 
13,  he  says,  u  These  last  words,  as  well  as  what  the 
parable  begins  with,  show  that  it  refers  to  the  coming 
of  Christ,  for  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  not  to 
his  corning  at  the  general  judgment  ;  for  he  concludes 
with  the  same  exhortation  which  he  had  subjoined 
to  the  account  which  he  gave,  in  the  former  chapter, 
of  the  signs  of  his  coming  in  that  event  ;  his  language 
there  was,  (ver.  42,)  '  Watch,  therefore,  for  ye  know 
not  what  hour  your  Lord  doth  come.'  The  intention 
of  the  parable  is  to  enforce  the  necessity  of  watchful- 
ness, by  showing  the  distinction  which  will  be  made,  in 
that  day,  between  those  by  whom  it  was  practised, 
and  those  by  whom  it  was  neglected." 

XXVIII.     "  And  cast  ye  the  unprofitable  servant  into  outer  dark- 
ness; there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth."    Matt.  xxv.  30. 

This  is  the  closing  portion  of  the  parable  of  the 
Unfaithful  Servant,  embraced  in  vers.  14-30. 

That  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  Matthew  is  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  subject  commenced  in  the  twenty-fourth 
chapter,  we  have  shown  in  the  preceding  section.  We 
refer, also  to  the  very  lucid  remarks  of  Sir.  Balfour  on 
this  subject,  in  his  u  Second  Inquiry,"  pp.  311  -315. 
See  also  the  "  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  as- 
serted," by  Rev.  S.  Noble,  Boston,  1828,  pp.  217- 
223.  We  think  it  impossible  for  any  candid  and  con- 
siderate person  to  read  the  remarks  of  these  two  au- 
thors, without  being  convinced,  that  the  twenty-fourth 
and  twenty-fifth  chapters  of  Matthew  both  refer  to  the 
same  events. 

The  "  outer  darkness,"  into  which  the  unprofitable 
servant  was  cast,  will  be  found  to  be  fully  explained  in 
Section  XXIII.  of  this  chapter  ;  and  also  the  phrase- 


124  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

ology,  "there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth." 
The  reader  is  respectfully  referred  to  what  is  there 
said,  in  order  to  save  a  repetition. 

XXIX.     "  And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment, 
but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal."     Matt.  xxv.  46. 

This  is  one  of  the  standard  proof-texts  of  endless 
misery;  but  we  are  confident,  that  the  passage  has  no 
just  reference  to  that  subject.  It  must  be  inquired, 
When  did  the  parable,  to  which  these  words  belong, 
have  its  fulfilment  ? 

At  the  very  commencement  of  the  parable,  the  Sa- 
viour informs  us,  when  those  things  of  which  he  spake 
were  to  take  place.  (See  ver.  31.)  tc  When  the  Son 
of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels 
with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glo- 
ry," &c.  Let  the  reader  now  be  careful  to  observe, 
that  all  which  is  predicted  in  this  parable  was  fulfilled 
at  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in  his  glory.  The 
only  inquiry,  therefore,  which  it  is  necessary  to  make, 
in  order  to  ascertain  when  the  events  of  this  parable 
took  place,  is  this, — When  did  the  Son  of  man  come 
in  his  glory  3 

In  the  first  place,  see  Matt.  xvi.  27,  28  :  "  For  the 
Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father, 
with  his  angels  :  and  then  he  shall  reward  every  man 
according  to  his  works.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there 
be  some  standing  here,  which  shall  not  taste  of  death  till 
they  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom." 
This  must  be  the  same  coming  of  the  Son  of  man, 
mentioned  in  the  text.  In  both  instances,  it  is  a  glo- 
rious coming  ;  in  both,  the  Son  of  man  is  accom- 
panied with  angels  ;  and  in  both,  he  come?  to  reward 
men  according  to  their  works.  There  is  no  room  for 
doubt,  that  it  is  the  same  event  which  is  spoken  of  in 
both  these  passages.  Now  notice  particularly,  that 
the  Saviour  says,  "  There  be  some  standing  here, 
which  shall  not  taste  of  death  till  they  see  the  Son  of 
man  coming  in  his  kingdom."  To  "  taste  of  death," 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          125 

is  a  Hebraism,  signifying  to  die  ;  and  hence  the  mean- 
ing of  this  passage  is,  there  be  some  standing  here 
which  shall  not  die,  till  they  see  the  Son  of  man  com- 
ing in  his  kingdom.  Here  it  is  evident,  beyond  possi- 
bility of  mistake,  that  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man 
was  to  take  place  .during  the  natural  lives  of  some  of 
those  who  stood  near  him,  at  the  time  he  uttered  these 
words.  Whenever  the  evangelists  give  an  account  of 
this  conversation  of  our  Lord  with  his  disciples,  as 
to  the  subject  under  consideration,  they  give  it  pre- 
cisely in  the  same  manner.  See  Mark  viii.  38;  ix.  1, 
"  Whosoever,  therefore,  shall  be  ashamed  of  me,  and  of 
my  words,  in  this  adulterous  and  sinful  generation,  of 
him  also  shall  the  Son  of  man  be  ashamed,  when  he 
cometh  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  with  the  holy  angels. 
And  he.  said  unto  them,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  that 
there  be  some  of  them  that  stand  here  which  shall  not 
taste  of  death  till  they  have  seen  the  kingdom  of  God 
come  with  power."  See  also  Luke  ix.  26,  27,  "  For 
whosoever  shall  be  ashamed  of  me,  and  of  my  words, 
of  him  shall  the  Son  of  man  be  ashamed,  when  he  shall 
come  in  his  own  glory,  and  in  his  Father's,  and  of  the 
holy  angels.  But  I  tell  you  of  a  truth,  there  be  some 
standing  here  which  shall  not  taste  of  death  till  they 
see  the  kingdom  of  God."  Here,  in  each  instance, 
the  evangelists  have  recorded  the  explicit  assurance 
of  Jesus,  that  his  coming  to  judge  and  recompense 
men,  according  to  their  works,  would  take  place  while 
some  of  those  people  lived,  who  stood  near  him  when 
he  spake.  What  can  be  more  plain  ? 

On  other  occasions  Jesus  embraced  opportunities  to 
impress  upon  the  minds  of  his  disciples  the  same  fact 
with  respect  to  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man.  And, 
in  one  particular  instance,  he  pointed  out  John,  his  be- 
loved disciple,  as  a  person  who  should  live  until  his  com- 
ing took  place.  See  John  xxi.  21-23.  u  Peter 
seeing  him,  saith  to  Jesus,  Lord,  and  what  shall  this 
man  do  ?  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  If  I  will  that  he  tarry 
till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  Follow  thou  me. 
11* 


126  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

Then  went  this  saying  abroad  among  the  brethren,  that 
that  disciple  should  not  die  :  yet  Jesus  said  not  unto 
him,  he  shall  not  die  ;  but  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I 
come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ? "  Agreeably  to  this  ac- 
count, John  lived  until  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem. Again,  in  Matt.  x.  23,  we  have  the  following 
words  :  "  But  when  they  persecute  you  in  this  city, 
flee  ye  into  another  :  for  verily  I  say  unto  you.  ye  shall 
not  have  gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel  till  the  Son  of 
man  be  come."  Here  is  an  unconditional  assurance 
from  the  lips  of  the  Saviour,  that,  pursued  by  their  an- 
gry persecutors,  the  disciples  would  not  traverse  all  the 
cities  of  Israel,  before  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man 
took  place.  Now,  as  every  thing  predicted  in  the  par- 
able was  to  be  fulfilled  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  man,  why  should  any  part  of  the  parable  of  the 
sheep  and  goats  be  applied  to  a  day  of  judgment  in  the 
future  state  ?  Was  not  the  fulfilment  confined  by  the 
words  of  the  Great  Teacher,  to  time  long  ago  passed 
by? 

As  it  is  thus  seen  most  clearly,  that  the  passage  at 
the  head  of  this  section,  had  sole  reference  to  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  unbelieving  Jews,  and  the  reward  of  the 
faithful  Christians,  at  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Jewish  polity  and  state,  the  reader  may  be  prompted 
to  inquire,  why  that  punishment  was  said  to  be  everlast- 
ing ? 

Orthodox  writers  have  very  freely  allowed,  that  the 
words  everlasting  and  eternal  are  frequently  used  in  a 
limited  sense.  Professor  Stuart  says,  the  word  trans- 
lated everlasting  "  is  sometimes  applied,  (as  in  common 
life,)  to  things  which  endure  for  a  long  time,  for  an 
indefinite  period.  So  it  is  applied  to  the  Jewish  priest- 
hood ;  to  the  Mosaic  ordinances  ;  to  the  possession  of 
the  land  of  Canaan  ;  to  the  hills  and  mountains  ;  to  the 
earth  ;  to  the  time  of  service  to  be  rendered  by  a 
slave  ;  and  to  some  other  things  of  a  like  nature." 
"Exeget.  Essays,"  p.  5(X. 

Professor    Robinson,  of   the   Andover    Institution, 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         127 

says,  in  his  edition  of  "  Calmet," — "  Eternal,  Eterni- 
ty. These  words  often  signify  a  very  long  time  ;  and, 
therefore,  must  not  always  be  understood  literally  ;  so 
we  find  c  eternal  mountains,'  to  denote  their  antiquity, 
Gen.  xlix.  26  ;  Deut.  xxxiii.  15.  God  promises  to 
Daviu  an  eternal  kingdom  and  posterity  ;  that  is,  his 
and  his  son's  empire  will  be  of  long  duration." 

Cruden,  whose  orthodoxy  was  never -doubted,  says, 
in  his  u  Concordance,"  on  the  word  eternal;  u  The 
words  eternal,  everlasting,  forever,  are  sometimes  taken 
for  a  long  time,  and  are  not  always  to  be  understood 
strictly  :  for  example,  it  is  said,  Gen.  xvii.  8.  'I  will 
give  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed,  the  land  of  Canaan  for  an 
everlasting  possession.'  And  in  chap.  xiii.  15,  '  I  will 
give  it  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  forever  ; '  that  is,  for  a 
long  space  of  time.  And  in  Gen.  xlix.  36,  we  find 
everlasting  hills,  so  called,  to  denote  their  antiquity, 
stability,  and  duration  ;  and  this  expression  is  used  to 
show  the  long  continuance  and  durableness  of  Joseph's 
blessing.  God  promises  a  throne  to  David,  an  eternal 
kingdom,  a  posterity  that  will  never  be  extinguished  ; 
that  is,  that  his  and  his  son's  empire,  will  be  of  very 
long  duration,  2  Sam.  vii.  16.  1  Chron.  xvii.  14.  Thus, 
thou  shalt  be  our  guide,  from  this  time  forth,  even  for- 
ever ;  that  is,  during  our  whole  life.  And  in  many 
other  places  of  Scripture,  and  in  particular  where  the 
word  forever  is  applied  to  the  Jewish  rites  and  privi- 
leges, it  commonly  signifies  no  more  than  during  the 
standing  of  that  commonwealth,  or  until  the  coming  of 
the  Messiah." 

Hear  Whitby,  also,  on  this  point.  "  Nor  is  there 
any  thing  more  common  and  familiar  in  Scripture,  than 
to  represent  a  thorough  and  irreparable  destruction, 
whose  effects  and  signs  shall  be  still  remaining,  by  the 
word  atomo?,  which  we  render  eternal ;  #  #  #  *  *  and 
this  specially  is  threatened  where  the  destruction  of  a 
nation  or  people  is  likened  to  the  overthrow  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah."  Com.  on  Jude  7. 

The  Greek  word  alojviog,  rendered  everlasting,  is  de- 


128  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

rived  from  aiwv,  and  must  receive  its  signification  from 
it.  Now  that  alwv  does  not  signify  eternity,  is  evident, 
because  it  is  used  in  the  plural  number.  It  would  be 
manifestly  improper  to  speak  of  eternities  ;  but  we  fall 
into  the  same  impropriety  when  we  make  alwv  or 
aiuvtog,  signify,  of  themselves,  endless  duration.  And 
not  only  is  alwv  used  in  the  plural  number,  but  words 
are  added  to  extend  its  signification,  even  when  num- 
berless alwvsq  are  spoken  of.  Thus,  Exod.  xv.  10, 
literally  rendered,  is,  "  The  Lord  shall  reign  from  alcav 
to  euwv  AND  FARTHER."  a  And  they  that  turn  many 
to  righteousness  shall  shine  as  the  stars  through  the 
aiojveg,  or  ages,  AND  FARTHER."  Dan.  xii.  3.  "  And 
we  will  walk  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  our  God,  through 
the  alwv,  and  beyond  it."  Micah  iv.  5.  As  the  word 
everlasting  is  then  used  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  in  a 
large  variety  of  instances,  to  signify  limited  duration, 
we  say  that,  when  applied  to  punishment,  it  ought, 
above  every  other  case,  to  bear  that  sense.  Jehovah 
hath  said,  that  he  "  will  not  cast  off  forever  ;  that  though 
he  cause  grief,  yet  will  he  have  compassion,  according 
to  the  multitude  of  his  mercies  ;  for  he  doth  not  afflict 
willingly,  nor  grieve  the  children  of  men."  Lam.  iii. 
31-33.  This  sentiment  is  utterly  repugnant  to  the 
doctrine  of  interminable  punishment  ;  and  requires  that 
the  word  everlasting,  in  the  very  few  instances,  in 
which  it  is  applied  to  punishment,  should  be  understood 
in  a  limited  sense,  as  it  must  be  understood  in  most  of 
the  instances  where  it  occurs. 

Speaking  to  the  Jews  of  the  divine  chastisements, 
the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  says,  "  No 
chastening  for  the  present  seemeth  to  be  joyous,  but 
grievous  ;  nevertheless  afterward  it  yieldeth  the  peace- 
able fruit  of  righteousness  unto  them  which  are  exer- 
cised thereby."  Heb.  xii.  11.  If  this  chastisement 
were  strictly  endless,  how  could  it  afterward  yield  the 
peaceable  fruit  of  righteousness  ?  Is  there  any  after- 
ward to  eternity  ?  Moreover,  that  the  fire,  Matt.  xxv. 
41,  and  punishment,  ver.  46,  are  not  to  be  understood 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          129 

as  endless  in  their  duration,  is  evident  from  this  circum- 
stance. The  parable  in  which  they  occur  was  spoken 
of  Jews  ;  and  the  New  Testament  writers  teach  expli- 
citly the  salvation  of  the  whole  Jewish  nation.  See 
Rom.  xi.  25,  26,  and  Heb.  viii.  8-11. 

The  only  objection  which  we  can  suppose  may  rest 
upon  the  mind  of  the  reader  is  this  :  the  same  word  is 
applied  to  life  which  is  applied  to  punishment.  It  is 
rendered  in  one  case  "  everlasting,"  in  the  other,  "  eter- 
nal ";  but  it  is  the  same  word  in  both  instances.  If  it 
does  not  signify  endless  duration  when  applied  to  pun- 
ishment, how  can  it  when  applied  to  life  9  On  the 
other  hand,  if  this  life  is  to  be  enjoyed  in  the  future 
state,  why  is  not  the  punishment  also  to  be  suffered 
there  ? 

Answer :  The  same  word  is,  in  the  same  connexion, 
applied  to  different  things,  in  other  parts  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, when,  as  all  acknowledge,  one  thing  is  temporal, 
the  other  endless.  Hab.  Hi.  6  ;  Rom.  xvi.  25,  26, 
and  others. 

But  the  proper  answer  to  the  objection,  in  the  case 
before  us,  is  this  :  We  consider  that  the  life  spoken 
of  in  Matt.  xxv.  46,  is  not  confined  to  the  immortal 
existence  into  which  the  human  race  are  to  be  raised 
after  natural  death  ;  but  is  that  spiritual  life  which  the 
believer  enjoys  in  this  state.  St.  John  says,  "  We 
know  that  we  have  passed  from  death  unto  life,  because 
we  love  the  brethren."  1  John  iii.  14.  John  knew 
that  he  had  then  already  passed  from  death  unto  life  • 
he  was  then  in  the  enjoyment  of  spiritual  life.  Jesus 
saith,  "  He  that  heareth  my  word,  and  believeth  on 
him  that  sent  me,  hath  (he  then  already  possessed) 
everlasting  life,  and  shall  not  come  into  condemnation, 
but  is  passed  from  death  unto  life."  John  v.  24.  And 
the  original  phrase  here  is  the  same  which  is  rendered 
eternal  life  in  Matt.  xxv.  46-.  We  believe  that  the 
"  everlasting  life,"  in  John  v.  24,  and  the  "  life  eter- 
nal," in  Matt.  xxv.  46,  are  one  and  the  same  thing. 
This  view  of  the  subject  completely  removes  the  ob- 


130  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

jection  last  introduced.  For,  if  the  punishment  and 
the  life  are  both  allowed  by  us  to  be  in  the  same  state, 
the  objection  loses  all  its  force. 

Those  who  wish  to  examine  this  subject  more  fully, 
are  referred  to  the  author's  "  Illustrations  of  the  Para- 
bles," pp.  314-354.  See  also  the  first  American  ed. 
of  "  Smith  on  Divine  Government,"  pp.  217-227. 
"  Winchester's  Dialogues,"  ed.  of  1831,  pp.  53-61. 
Balfour's  "  Second  Inquiry,"  .ed.  of  1827,  pp.  311- 
340.  See  also  Ballou's  "  Lecture  Sermons,"  Lecture 
XVIII.  For  an  examination  of  the  subject  of  endless 
punishment,  see  u  Universalist  Expositor,"  Vol.  I.  pp. 
55-61  ;  also  Vol.  II.  325-350.  Skinner's  "  Uni- 
versalism  Illustrated  and  Defended,"  pp.  196-211. 


pp.    I 
,"  Vol. 


Examine  also  u  Universalist  Expositor,"  Vol.  IV.  149. 

XXX.  "  Woe  unto  that  man  by  whom  the  Son  of  man  is  betray- 
ed !  it  had  been  good  for  that  man,  if  he  had  not  been  born."  Matt. 
xxvi.24.  Markxiv.  21. 

It  has  long  been  asserted  by  believers  in  endless  mis- 
ery, that  Judas,  concerning  whom  these  words  were 
spoken,  must  be  eternally  damned.  It  has  been  alleged, 
that  he  was  one  of  the  most  wicked  of  men  ;  and  that 
he  deserved  no  better  fate,  than  to  be  eternally  excluded 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord.  It  is  not  expedient  to 
pass  rash  judgment  in  this  case. 

Let  us  look  for  a  few  moments  to  the  history  of  Ju- 
das. He  was  one  of  the  twelve  apostles  ;  and  to  him, 
as  well  as  all  the  rest,  power  was  given  to  work  mira- 
cles in  attestation  of  his  divine  appointment.  We  are 
not  informed,  but  that  he  labored  as  faithfully  as  the  rest, 
until  the  time  of  the  betrayal.  Jesus  did  not  except 
Judas  in  what  he  said  Matt.  xix.  28  ;  though  what  force 
is  to  be  allowed  to  this  circumstance  the  reader  must 
judge,  yas  that  passage  is  involved  in  some  obscurity. 

That  act  of  his  life  which  has  excited  the  most  atten- 
tion, was  the  betraying  of  his  master.  See  Matt.  xxvi. 
14-16.  47-50. 

There  are  some  things  to  be  said,  in  extenuation  of 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          131 

this  crime.  It  was  not  done,  we  should  think,  through 
enmity  to  Jesus,  or  his  cause.  It  seems  reasonable, 
that  Judas  did  not  think  that  Jesus  would  be  condemned. 
He  probably  thought,  that  Jesus  would  be  cleared,  if 
tried  before  the  Jewish  tribunal.  He  knew  his  mas- 
ter's innocence  ;  and  perhaps  he  supposed  it  would  be 
apparent  at  the  trial,  as  it  certainly  was  ;  for  even  Pi- 
late, the  Roman  governor,  washed  his  hands,  and  said, 
"I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this  just  person." 
Matt,  xxvii.  24. 

Again,  Judas  might  have  thought,  that  even  if  his 
master  were  condemned,  he  could  deliver  himself  from 
his  enemies.  He  had  heard  Jesus  say,  that  all  power 
was  in  his  hands  ;  he  had  seen  him  work  miracles  ;  he 
had  known  him  to  deliver  himself  from  the  people  ;  and 
he  could  not  have  entertained  a  doubt,  that  Jesus  could 
deliver  himself  at  any  time  from  the  power  of  his  ene- 
mies. One  of  the  above  reasons  should  be  admitted. 
For  when  Judas  saw  that  Jesus  was  condemned,  and 
that  he  did  not  deliver  himself,  he  seems  to  have  been 
struck  with  the  utmost  astonishment  and  remorse,  which 
shortly  produced  his  death.  See  the  account  :  "  Then 
Judas,  which  had  betrayed  him,  when  he  saw  that  he 
was  condemned,  repented  himself,  and  brought  again  the 
thirty  pieces  of  silver  to  the  chief  priests  and  elders, 
saying,  I  have  sinned  in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  inno- 
cent blood.  *****  And  he  cast  down  the  pieces 
of  silver  in  the  temple,  and  departed  and  went  and 
hanged  himself."  Matt,  xxvii.  3-5.  Is  this  the  lan- 
guage of  an  enemy  of  Christ  ?  Does  it  not  show,  that 
Judas  thought  Jesus  would  not  be  condemned  ?  Did 
he  not  make  the  most  explicit  avowal  of  his  own  guilt, 
before  the  chief  priests  and  elders,  and  assert,  in  the 
strongest  manner,  the  innocence  of  Christ  ?  He  alone 
of  all  the  twelve,  publicly  maintained,  at  that  time,  the 
innocence  of  Christ,  for  all  the  rest  had  "  forsook  him 
and  fled,"  Matt.  xxvi.  56  ;  and  Peter  denied  him  three 
times,  and  cursed,  and  swore  that  he  knew  not  the  man, 
69-75. 


132  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

Why,  then,  did  Judas  betray  his  master  ?  See  Matt. 
xxvi.  14  —  16.  Judas  wanted  the  money.  Perhaps  he 
wished  to  appropriate  it  to  his  own  use,  and  perhaps  he 
intended  to  put  it  into  the  treasury  of  the  church,  for  he 
kept  the  bag,  —  a  proof  that  he  had  been  regarded  with 
favor.  The  worst  view  that  can  justly  be  taken  of  the 
case  of  Judas  is,  that  he  betrayed  his  master,  not 
through  enmity  to  him,  or  to  his  cause,  but  for  the  re- 
ward which  was  given. 

There  are  two  accounts  of  Judas's  death,  which  seem 
to  be  somewhat  contradictory.  See  Matt,  xxvii.  5  ; 
and  compare  it  with  Acts  i.  18.  The  one  writer  states, 
that  Judas  hanged  himself,  —  the  other,  that  he  fell 
down  and  burst  asunder.  But  this  difficulty  exists  only 
in  the  translation.  There  is  no  proof,  that  Judas  hang- 
ed himself,  or  committed  suicide  in  any  way.  The 
Greek  word  amJ/Saro,  rendered  in  Matt,  xxvii.  5,  u  hang- 
ed himself,"  —  does  not  necessarily  have  that  significa- 
tion. Campbell  renders  it  strangled  himself,  and  says 
it  may  be  rendered  was  suffocated.  Wakefield's  ver- 
sion is,  ivas  choaked  with  anguish.  A.  Clarke  says, 
it  may  be  rendered,  was  strangled.  This  removes  the 
apparent  contradiction. 

Let  us  pay  a  brief  attention  to  the  arguments  which 
are  brought  forward  to  prove,  that  Judas  must  be  for- 
ever lost. 

1.  We  read,  John  xvii.  12,  "  None  of  them  is  lost, 
but  the  son  of  perdition."     Does  this  passage  show, 
that  Judas  will  be  lost  in  the  future  state  ?  or  that  he 
will  be  eternally  lost  ?     Not  at  all.     Judas  was  lost ; 
he  was  lost  from  the  apostleship  ;  he  was  a  lost  and 
undone  man,  a  poor,  broken-hearted  traitor,  abandoned 
of  the  church  and  of  the  world.     "  Son  of  perdition" 
is  a  Hebraism,  signifying  one  that  is  lost.     Judas  had 
misery  enough  in  this  world  ;  it  is  cruel  to  pursue  him 
into  eternity  with  the  effects  of  his  treachery. 

2.  Jesus  called  Judas  a  devil,  John  vi.  70.     Judas 
was  a  devil,  that  is,  he  was  didfiolog,  an  adversary  to 
Christ.     But  will  this  prove  the  endless  damnation  of 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          133 

Judas  ?  No,  for  Jesus  said  to  Peter,  "  Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan,"  Matt.  xvi.  23,  and  no  one  sup- 
poses that  Peter  is  forever  lost. 

3.  It  is  alleged,  that  Judas  committed  self-murder, 
and  that  the   Bible  says,  no  self-murderer  shall  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.     We    deny  both  these 
propositions.     The  Bible  makes  no  such  statement  in 
regard  to  the  self-murderer,  nor  is  there  any  proof,  that 
Judas  committed  self-murder. 

4.  It  is  alleged,  that  Jesus  said,  "  Good  were  it  for 
that  man,  if  he  had  not  been  born."     Matt.  xxvi.  24. 
Now,  if  Judas  should  ever  be  saved,  it  would  be  good 
for  him  that  he  had  been  born  ;  and,  consequently,  he 
can  never  be  saved.     We  object  to  this  strained  and 
far-fetched  sense  of  the  passage.     We  do  not  believe, 
that  Jesus  intended  any  such  inference  should  be  made 
from  his  words.     Those  words  are  not  to  be  strictly 
and  literally  interpreted,  as  they  were  a  proverbial  form 
of  speech  among  the  Jews,  and  every  one  knows,  that 
proverbs    are   not   to  be   literally  considered.     Adam 
Clarke  has  fully  shown  this  in  his  Commentary,  at  the 
end  of  chap.  i.     Job    (chap,   iii.)    cursed  the   day  in 
which  he  was  born  ;  but  no  one  supposes  that  he  will 
be  endlessly  miserable.     So   also  did   Jeremiah   (xx. 
14-18)  ;   but  Jeremiah,  we  trust,  is  not  to  be  finally 
excluded  from  God's  presence. 

5.  It  is  alleged,   that  Judas  is  gone  to  an  endless 
hell,  because  the  evangelist  states,  that  he  went  "  to 
his  own  place,"  Acts  i.  25.     But  we  deny  that  these 
words  refer  to  Judas  at  all,  as  we  shall  show  in  the 
proper  place. 

Thus  all  the  arguments,  which  have  been  brought 
forward  to  prove  the  endless  misery  of  Judas,  do  ut- 
terly fail. 

It  should  be  remembered,  that  Judas  fully  repented 
of  his  sin.  That  his  repentance  was  genuine  is  evident 
from  the  following  considerations.  1.  He  confessed 
his  guilt.  2.  He  asserted  the  innocence  of  Christ. 
3.  He  returned  the  money.  4.  His  sorrow  caused 
12 


134  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

his  death,  which  it  could  not  have  done  on  any  other 
supposition  than  that  it  was  sincere.  We  close  with 
the  words  of  Dr.  Adam  Clarke. 

<£  The  utmost  that  can  be  said  for  the  case  of  Judas, 
is  this  :  he  committed  a  heinous  act  of  sin  and  ingrati- 
tude, but  he  repented,  and  did  what  he  could  to  undo 
his  wicked  act  ;  he  had  committed  the  sin  unto  death, 
that  is,  a  sin  that  involves  the  death  of  the  body  ;  but 
who  can  say,  (if  mercy  was  offered  to  Christ's  mur- 
derers, and  the  gospel  was  first  preached  at  Jerusalem, 
that  these  very  murderers  might  have  the  first  offer  of 
salvation  through  him  whom  they  had  pierced,)  that 
the  same  mercy  could  not  be  extended  to  wretched 
Judas  ?  I  contend,  that  the  chief  priests,  &c.,  who 
instigated  Judas  to  deliver  up  his  Master,  and  who 
crucified  him,  and  who  crucified  him  too  as  a  malefac- 
tor^ having,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  indubitable 
evidence  of  his  innocence,  were  worse  men  than  Judas 
Iscariot  himself ;  and  that,  if  mercy  was  extended  to 
those,  the  wretched,  penitent  traitor  did  not  die  out 
of  the  reach  of  the  yearning  of  its  bowels.  And  I 
contend  further,  that  there  is  no  positive  evidence  of 
the  final  damnation  of  Judas,  in-the  sacred  text."* 

XXXI.  "  But  he  that  shall  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Ghost, 
hath  never  forgiveness,  but  is  in  danger  of  eternal  damnation." 
Mark  iii.  29. 

We  have  already  considered  this  passage,  in  sec- 
tion XIII.  of  this  chapter,  under  Matt.  xii.  31,  32. 
The  reader  will  refer  to  that  place  for  an  exposition  of 
the  phrase  "  hath  never  forgiveness,"  and  for  our 
views,  in  general,  on  the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Those  who  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Spirit 
are  in  u  danger  of  eternal  damnation  !  "  It  is  some- 
times very  confidently  asked,  if  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  eternal  damnation,  how  can  anybody  be  in  danger 
of  it  ?  The  Universalist  replies,  "  I  believe  in  eternal 
damnation  in  the  sense  those  words  ought  to  bear  in 

*  Com.,  end  of  Acts,  chap.  i. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          135 

that  passage,  and  in  the  sense  the  Saviour  originally 
intended.  The  blasphemer  was  actually  in  danger  of 
it."  The  Greek  expression,  which  our  translators 
render  "  eternal  damnation,"  is  alcarlov  x^/a«<y?,  literally 
the  judgment  of  the  age,  not  endless  misery  in  the 
future  world.  All  who  blasphemed  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  resisted  the  evidence  of  the  Christian 
religion,  and  joined  with  the  Jews  in  persecuting  the 
church  of  God,  were  subject  to  the  aiwvlov  nQlatug,  the 
judgment  of  the  age. 

XXXII.  Mark  vi.   11.      For  our  views  on  ihis 
passage,  see   Section    IX.   of  this  chapter,  on  Matt. 
x.  15,  and  Section  XII.  on  Matt,  xi    22-24. 

XXXIII.  Mark  viii.  35  —  37.     For  our  views  on 
this  passage,  see   Section  XVIII.  of  this  chapter,  on 
Matt.  xvi.  25,  26. 

XXXIV.  "  And  if  thy  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off;  it  is  better  for 
thee  to  enter  into  life  maimed,  than,  having  two  hands,  to  go  into 
hell,  into  the  fire  that  never  shall  be  quenched;  where  their  worm 
dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched.  And  if  thy  foot  offend  thee, 
cut  it  off;  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter  halt  into  life,  than,Jiaving  two 
feet,  to  be  cast  into  hell,  into  the  fire  that  never  shall  be  quenched  ; 
where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched.  And  if 
thine  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out;  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God  with  one  eye,  than,  having  two  eyes,  to  be  cast 
into  hell  fire  ;  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not 
quenched."  Mark  ix.  43-48. 

The  parallel  places  are  Matt.  v.  29,  30,  and  xviii. 
8,9. 

We  shall  consider  this  passage  under  the  three  fol- 
lowing heads. 

1st.  What  is  intended  by  entering  into  "life"  (ver. 
43)  ?  or  "  the  kingdom  of  God  "  (ver.  47)  ? 

2d.  What  punishment  is  intended  by  the  phrases 
uhell"  and  "  hell  fire  "? 

3d.  What  are  we  to  understand  by  the  expressions, 
"  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not 
quenched  "  ? 

1.  In  regard  to  the  first  question,  I  reply,  that,  to 


136  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

enter  into  u  life,"  or  "  the  kingdom  of  God,1'  which 
are  synonymous  terms,  was  to  enter  the  moral  kingdom 
of  Jesus  Christ,  which  he  came  to  establish  in  the 
hearts  of  men,  —  that  kingdom,  which  came  with  di- 
vine power,  at  the  end  of  the  Jewish  state.  That 
kingdom  was  at  hand,  when  John  the  Baptist,  Christ, 
and  his  apostles  began  to  preach,  Matt.  iii.  2,  iv.  17, 
x.  7.  This  kingdom  is  not  exclusively  in  another  state 
of  being  ;  it  was  the  moral  reign  of  Christ  among  men. 
It  came  to  them,  Matt.  xii.  28.  It  was  said  to  be 
within  men,  Luke  xvii.  19,  20.  To  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  was  to  believe,  profess,  and  obey  the 
Gospel  ;  and  whoever  did  this  was  in  the  kingdom  of 
God,  let  him  be  outwardly  in  any  place.  We  will  not 
extend  our  remarks  on  this  topic,  as  we  have  already 
discussed  this  subject  in  Section  III.  of  this  chapter, 
under  Matt.  v.  20.  See  "  Universalist  Expositor," 
Vol.  I.  pp.  3-23,  on  phrase  "  kingdom  of  heaven." 

2.  What  punishment  is  intended  by  the  phrases 
"hell,"  and  "  hell  fire  "? 

The  phrase  here  translated  hell  is  yitwa,  gehenna, 
and  the  phrase  translated  hell  fire  is,  ify  ysevrav  rov  nvgbg, 
the  gehenna  of  fire. 

Having  already  fully  explained  the  scriptural  sense 
of  gehenna,  in  Section  IV.  of  this  chapter,  under 
Matt.  v.  22,  (to  which  I  refer  the  reader,)  I  shall  not 
go  so  fully  into  the  subject  in  this  place.  It  is  very 
singular,  if  gehenna  is  the  term  by  which  we  are  to 
understand  a  place  of  eternal  punishment,  that  the  word 
was  never  used  by  any  of  the  inspired  Christian  teach- 
ers, except  our  Lord  and  James.  The  word  occurs 
seven  times  in  Matthew,  three  in  Mark,  and  once  in 
Luke,  all  in  the  discourses  of  our  Lord  ;  and,  besides 
these,  it  occurs  only  once,  viz.  in  the  epistle  of  James. 

We  have  no  evidence,  in  the  New  Testament,  that 
the- word  gehenna  was  ever  employed  in  allusion  to  the 
Gentiles.  In  the  twelve  times  in  which  it  is  employed 
in  the  New  Testament,  it  is  addressed  to  Jews.  John 
wrote  his  gospel  for  the  use  of  the  Gentiles,  and  he 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          137 

makes  no  mention  of  Gehenna.  Paul  was  the  great 
apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  and  he  never  employs  the  word 
Gehenna.  Is  not  this  very  singular,  if  the  term  is 
employed  to  signify  a  place  of  eternal  punishment,  to 
which  Gentiles  as  well  as  Jews  are  exposed  ? 

Gehenna,  from  Gee  Hinnom,  was  the  name  of  a 
valley,  which  bounds  Jerusalem  on  the  south,  Josh. 
xv.  8,  xviii.  16.  Under  the  idolatrous  kings,  it  was  a 
holy,  sacred  place,  because  the  idols  were  placed 
there.  To  break  up  the  veneration  which  the  Jews 
had  for  this  place,  the  pious  King  Josiah  caused  it  to 
be  polluted,  2  Kings  xxiii.  10;  and  to  dishonor  it  to 
the  utmost,  he  caused  all  the  filth  of  the  city,  offal, 
dead  carcasses,  and  every  thing  impure,  to  be  carried 
there.  This  gave  occasion  to  connect  fire  with  Ge- 
henna, for  perpetual  fires  were  kept  up  to  consume  the 
offal  that  was  deposited  there.  The  offal  also  contin- 
ually bred  worms,  so  that  worms  and  fire  were  always 
associated  with  the  place  ;  and  hence  the  expression, 
u  where  the  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quench- 
ed." As  the  place  thus  became  abominable,  and 
detestable  in  the  sight  of  all  the  Jews,  it  soon  came 
to  be  used  as  a  figure  of  any  thing  dreadful,  of  any  sig- 
nal calamity,  of  any  irreparable  destruction,  of  any 
consuming  judgment.  It  also  became  a  place  of  pun- 
ishment in  which  criminals  were  burned.  The  meta- 
phorical sense  of  Gehenna  may  be  readily  perceived 
in  Jer.  vii.  31-34,  and  also  ch.  xix.  8,  12.  See 
Matt.  v.  22,  where  yifwa  occurs,  and  where,  as  Park- 
hurst  says,  "  a  gehenna  of  fire  (rrjv  y&evvav  iov  nvgog) 
does,  I  apprehend,  in  its  outward  and  primary  sense, 
relate  to  that  dreadful  doom  of  being  burned  alive  in 
the  valley  of  Hinnom."  Lex.,  sub  voce.  Adam 
Clarke  is  to  the  same  purport.  See  his  com.  on  Matt. 
v.  22. 

Having  thus  ascertained  the  true  sense  of  the  word 
Gehenna,  let  us, 

Consider  the  words,  "  where  their  worm  dieth  not, 
and  the  fire  is  not  quenched  "  ;  verses  44,  46,  43.  It 
12* 


1 38  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

cannot  be  doubted  for  a  moment,  that  these  words  must 
be  joined  in  their  sense  with  Gehenna.  The  adverb 
where  points  to  that  place  as  the  place  in  which  the 
worm  did  not  die,  and  in  which  the  fire  was  not  quench- 
ed. Gehenna,  as  we  have  said,  was  made  the  recepta- 
cle of  the  filth  and  offal  of  Jerusalem,  in  which,  of 
course,  worms  were  bred,  and  to  destroy  which  a  per- 
petual fire  was  kept  burning.  These  expressions  were 
designed  to  show,  that  the  punishment  of  those,  who, 
like  the  Jews,  did  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
would  be  severe  like  that  of  Gehenna,  and  of  a  very 
long  duration.  It  is  altogether  probable,  that  our  Lord 
borrowed  this  expression  from  the  Jewish  prophets  ; 
and  I  am  willing  to  follow  the  rule  so  judiciously  laid 
down  by  Dr.  Whitby.  "  These  words  seem  plainly 
taken  from  Isaiah  Ixvi.  24,  where  they  exactly  may  be 
found  ;  and  it  seems  reasonable  to  interpret  them  ac- 
cording to  the  received  opinion  of  the  Jews,  since  oth- 
erwise our  Lord,  by  using  this  expression  frequently  in 
speaking  to  them  who  would  be  sure  to  understand  it  in 
the  usual  sense,  without  saying  any  thing  to  show  he  did 
not  understand  it  as  they  did,  must  have  strengthened 
them  in  their  error."*  What  was  the  sense  in  which 
Isaiah  used  these  words  ?  See  chap.  Ixvi.  24.  u  And 
it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  from  one  new  moon  to  an- 
other, and  from  one  Sabbath  to  another,  shall  all  flesh 
come  to  worship  before  me,  saith  the  Lord.  And  they 
shall  go  forth,  and  look  upon  the  carcasses  of  the  men 
that  have  transgressed  against  me  ;  for  their  worm  shall 
not  die,  neither  shall  their  fire  be  quenched  ;  and  they 
shall  be  an  abhorring  unto  all  flesh."  This  passage 
cannot  be  considered  as  having  reference  to  a  future 
state  of  punishment,  because  it  is  said  to  be  fulfilled 
where  time  is  denoted  by  new  moons  and  sabbaths ;  and 
by  comparing  Isaiah  Ixvi.  22,  with  Ixv.  17-21,  it  will 
be  seen,  further,  that  at  this  time  men  were  to  "  build 
them  houses  and  inhabit  them,  plant  vineyards,  and  eat 

*  Com.  on  Mark  ix.  43,  44. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          139 

the  fruit  of  them."  It  is  unquestionable,  that  the 
prophet  used  the  words  before  us  in  application  to  tem- 
poral judgments ;  and,  according  to  Dr.  Whitby's 
wholesome  rule,  we  must  so  understand  the  words  of 
Christ.  It  appears  from  Dr.  Lightfoot,  that  some  of 
the  Jewish  Rabbins  understood  the  words  of  Isaiah  in 
the  same  manner.  u  Some  of  the  Rabbins  apply  that 
of  Isaiah  hither,  chap.  Ixvi.  verse  the  last  :  u  They 
shall  go  out  and  see  the  dead  carcasses  of  the  men  that 
rebel  against  me  ;  for  their  worm  shall  not  die,  and  their 
fire  shall  not  be  quenched."  "  Those  Gentiles  (saith 
Kimchi  upon  the  place)  who  come  to  worship  from 
month  to  month,  and  from  sabbath  to  sabbath,  shall  go 
out  without  Jerusalem  into  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat  (or 
Hinnom),  and  shall  see  the  carcasses  of  Gog  and  Ma- 
gog, &c."  And  a  little  after,  "  The  just  shall  go  out 
without  Jerusalem  into  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  and  shall 
see  those  that  rebel,  &c."  To  this  Lightfoot  adds,  that 
this  was  called  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  either  be- 
cause he  here  erected  some  building,  or  did  some  other 
work,  or  because  of  judgment,  the  word  "  Jehosha- 
phat," signifying,  the  Lord  is  judge.*  If  Whitby's 
rule  is  a  good  one,  and  Lightfoot  concurs  with  him  in 
this  particular,  (xi.  407,)  Jesus  must  have  intended  by 
the  words  under  examination,  the  temporal  judgment 
which  fell  upon  the  Jews.  To  represent  any  divine 
judgment  that  was  effectual,  that  did  not  cease  until  it 
had  done  its  whole  work,  by  unquenchable  fire,  was 
very  common  with  the  Jewish  writers  ;  see  Isaiah  i. 
31  ;  xxxiv.  10  ;  Jer.  iv.  4  ;  vii.  20  ;  xvii.  4,  27  ; 
Ezek.  xx.  47,  48.  The  word  uafoaTo?,  rendered  un- 

rmchable,  occurs  in  the  following  instances  only  in 
New  Testament  :  Matt.  iii.  12,  and  its  parallel, 
Luke  iii.  17  ;  Mark  ix.  43,  45.  From  all  that  has 
been  said,  it  will  be  clearly  seen,  that  Jesus  but  follow- 
ed the  examples  of  the  Jewish  prophets,  in  applying 
the  phrases  "  Gehenna,"  "  the  worm  that  dieth  not," 

*  Works,  X.  81,82. 


140  FLAUNT  GUIDE  TO  UN1VERSALISM. 

"  the  fire  that  shall  not  be  quenched,"  to  the  temporal 
judgments  of  the  Jews. 

XXXV.  Markx.  15. 

For  an  exposition  of  this  passage,  see  the  remarks 
on  the  parallel  place,  Matt,  xviii.  3.  Section  XIX.  of 
this  chapter. 

XXXVI.  Mark  x.  24,  25. 

See  remarks  on  the  parallel  place,  Matt.  xix.  23,  24. 
Section  XXII.  of  this  chapter. 

XXXVII.  "  And  Jesus  answered  and  said,  Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  there  is  no  man  that  hath  left  house,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or 
father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  sake,  and  the 
gospel's,  but  he  shall  receive  a  hundred  fold  now  in  this  time,  hous- 
es, and  brethren,  and  sisters,  and  mothers,  and  children,  and  lands, 
with  persecutions ;  and  in  the  world  to  come  eternal  life."  Mark 
x.  29,  30. 

The  parallel  passages  are  Matt.  xix.  29,  and  Luke 
xviii.  29,  30.  Had  we  room  here,  we  would  gladly 
enter  into  a  full  consideration  of  the  sense  of  the  pas- 
sage ;  but  we  are  more  particularly  concerned,  in  this 
article,  with  the  following  expression,  —  "and  in  the 
world  to  come  eternal  life."  In  the  consideration  we 
shall  confine  ourselves  to  two  particulars  :  1st,  what  is 
meant  by  u  eternal  life  "  ;  and  2d,  what  is  meant  by  the 
phrase,  "  world  to  come." 

1st.  What  is  meant  by  "  eternal  life  "  ?  This  phrase 
is  not  used  by  the  sacred  writers  to  signify  endless 
blessedness  beyond  the  grave,  but  that  state  of  spiritual 
life  and  peace  which  was  the  immediate  effect  of  faith 
in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  "  eternal  life  " 
stands  opposed  to  that  death  in  trespasses  and  sins 
of  which  the  sacred  writers  so  frequently  speak.  The 
Saviour  speaks  on  this  wise  :  John  v.  24,  —  "  He  that 
heareth  my  word,  and  believeth  on  him  that  sent  me, 
hath  everlasting  life,  and  shall  not  come  into  condem- 
nation ;  but  is  PASSED  from  death  unto  life."  Now 
the  life  here  spoken  of  is  not  the  "  immortality"  and 
u  incorruption  "  promised  to  men  by  the  Gospel,  after 
the  literal  resurrection  of  the  dead  ;  but  the  spiritual 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          141 

life  which  believers  then  enjoyed,  at  the  time  the  Sa- 
viour uttered  the  passage  ;  for  he  said  of  such  as  be- 
lieved his  Gospel,  that  they  had  then  already  passed 
from  death  unto  life.  Hence  we  read,  John  xvii.  3, 
that  to  know  God  is  life  eternal ;  and  hence  the  apostle 
says,  1  John  iii.  14,  "  We  know  that  we  have  passed 
from  death  unto  life,  because  we  love  the  brethren.  He 
that  loveth  not  his  brother  abideth  in  death."  Presum- 
ing then,  that  this  subject  is  plain,  and  that  there  cannot 
remain  a  doubt,  that  the  u  eternal  life  "  mentioned  in 
the  passage,  was  the  spiritual  peace  and  joy  experienced 
by  the  believer  in  the  exercise  of  faith,  and  at  the  time 
of  the  exercise  of  faith,  we  shall  pass  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  phrase,  "the  world  to  come."  See  Sec- 
tions III.  and  XXXIV.  of  this  chapter. 

2d.  The  "  world  to  come."  What  we  have  said  on 
the  phrase  "  eternal  life,"  shows  conclusively,  that  by 
the  "  world  to  come,"  the  sacred  writers  did  not  mean 
the  future  immortal  existence.  Adam  Clarke  express- 
es his  perfect  satisfaction,  that  the  phrase  "  world  to 
come  "  signifies  the  Christian  dispensation.  u  The 
'  world  to  come,'  "  says  he,  "  is  a  constant  phrase  for 
the  times  of  the  Messiah,  in  the  Jewish  writers."  See 
on  Matt.  xii.  32.  The  sacred  writers,  and  the  New 
Testament  writers  in  particular,  maintained  a  perfect 
distinction  between  the  age  of  the  law,  and  the  age  of 
the  Gospel.  The  age  of  the  law  lasted  until  the  com- 
ing of  Christ  to  destroy  the  Jews, — at  which  time,  it 
is  said  by  the  evangelist,  the  kingdom  of  God  came  with 
power.  Jesus  and  the  apostles,  therefore,  looked  for- 
ward to  the  full  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  the 
overthrow  of  its  enemies,  as  a  highly  important  event, 
—  a  great  era,  —  when  the  dispensation  of  the  law  en- 
tirely ceased,  and  that  of  the  Gospel  was  fully  set  up. 
The  age  of  the  law  they  called  this  world,  or  age,  be- 
cause they  lived  under  it,  though  near  its  termination  ; 
and  the  age  of  the  Gospel  they  called  the  age  or  world 
to  come,  because  it  was  then  the  coming  or  approaching 


142  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

age,  the  next  succeeding  age.  This  world,  or  aluv,  a 
phrase  frequently  employed  by  Christ  and  his  apostles, 
signified,  as  we  have  said,  the  age  of  the  law  under 
which  they  lived.  See  Matt.  xiii.  32  ;  Mark  iv.  19  ; 
Luke  xvi.  8  ;  Rom.  xii.  2  ;  Eph.  i.  21.  This  was  the 
general  sense  of  the  phrase.  Hence  we  read  of  the  end 
of  the  age,  or  world,  that  is,  the  age  of  the  law.  Matt. 
xiii.  40,  49.  Paul  says,  1  Cor.  x.  11,  that  the  end  of 
the  world  had  then  already  come,  that  is,  the  time  had 
drawn  near  ;  and  in  Heb.  ix.  26,  he  represents  Christ 
as  having  suffered  at  the  conclusion  of  the  world,  or 
age.  Then,  when  they  spoke  of  the  world  or  age  to 
come,  what  did  they  mean  ?  They  meant  the  age  of 
the  Gospel,  which  commenced  at  the  destruction  of  the 
Jewish  state.  Hence  Paul,  speaking  of  the  messen- 
gers, or  angels,  of  the  Jewish  law,  says,  that  the  world 
to  come,  the  age  of  the  Gospel,  had  not  been  put  in 
subjection  to  them,  Heb.  ii.  5  ;  and  those  who  had  been 
brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  were  said  to 
have  tasted  "  the  good  word  of  God,  and  the  powers 
of  the  world  to  come,"  or  age  of  the  Gospel.  Heb. 
vi.  5. 

"  He  shall  receive  a  hundred  fold  now  in  this  time," 
that  is,  under  the  law,  even  before  the  kingdom  of  God 
shall  come  with  power.  But  in  the  world  to  come  he 
shall  receive  eternal  life.  At  the  full  coming  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  when  the  dispensation  of  the  law  has 
entirely  ceased,  when  the  rage  of  your  enemies  is  spent, 
and  it  is  put  out  of  their  power  to  injure  you,  you  shall 
enjoy  fully, — more  fully  than  ever  before,  the  life  and 
peace  of  the  Gospel.  Your  faith  shall  be  strengthened, 
your  doubts  shall  be  all  removed,  the  religion  you  pro- 
fess shall  have  become  established,  your  peace  of  mind 
shall  be  abundant,  and  your  outward  peace  greater  than 
ever  before. 

XXXVIII.     Markxiv.  21. 

See  remarks  on  the  parallel  place,  Matt.  xxvi.  24, 
Sect.  XXX.  of  this  chapter. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          143 

XXXIX.  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved ;  but 
he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  Mark  xvi.  16. 

For  proof  that  these  words  had  a  peculiar  application 
to  the  apostolic  age,  see  verses  17  and  18. 

But  so  far  as  Universalism  is  concerned,  we  have  no 
objection  that  the  words  should  receive  a  general  ap- 
plication. But  where  is  the  believer  to  be  saved  ?  and 
where  is  the  unbeliever  to  be  damned  ?  Not  in  the  future 
state,  surely.  There  is  not  the  least  reference  to  the 
immortal  state  in  the  passage,  that  we  can  see.  Is  it 
said,  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  in  this 
world,  shall  be  saved  in  the  future  world  3  and  he  who 
believeth  not  in  this  world,  shall  be  damned  in  the  fu- 
ture world  $  Nothing  of  this  kind  is  stated.  The  ra- 
tional inference  from  the  passage  is,  that  the  salvation 
is  conjoined  with  the  faith  ;  and  when  the  creature  pos- 
sesses the  latter  he  enjoys  the  former.  So  when  he  is 
in  unbelief,  he  is  damned.  The  Saviour  said  ;  "  He 
that  believeth  not  is  condemned  already ." 

Dr.  Campbell  says,  that  the  word  damned  u  is  not  a 
just  version  of  the  Greek  word.  The  term  damned, 
with  us,  (he  says,)  relates  solely  to  the  doom  which 
shall  be  pronounced  upon  the  wicked  at  the  last  day. 
This  cannot  be  affirmed,  in  truth,  of  the  Greek 
wnnxglvta,  which  corresponds  exactly  to  the  English 
word  condemn."  Note  in  loc.  See  also  Home's  "  In- 
troduction." Vol.  I.  p.  446. 

XL.     Luke  iii.  7. 

See  remarks  on  Matt.  iii.  7,  Sect.  I.,  of  this  chapter. 

XLI.     Luke  iii.  17. 

See  remarks  on  Matt.  iii.  12,  Sect.  II.,  of  this 
chapter. 

XLII.     Luke  ix.  24,  25. 

See  remarks  on  Matt.  xvi.  25,  26,  Sect.  XVIII., 
of  this  chapter. 

XLIII.     Lukex.  12-15. 

See  remarks  on  Matt.  x.  15,  and  xi.  22-24,  Sec- 
tions IX.  and  XII.,  of  this  chapter. 


144  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

XLIV.     Luke  xi.  31,  32. 

See  remarks  on  Matt.  x.  15,  Sect.  IX. 

XLV.     Luke  xii.  4,  5. 

In  Sect.  XL,  of  this  chapter,  under  Matt.  x.  28,  we 
have  shown  our  reasons  for  rejecting  the  usual  interpre- 
tations of  this  saying  of  the  Saviour.  We  do  not  be- 
lieve, that  it  has  the  slightest  possible  allusion  to  the 
doctrine  of  endless  misery.  We  refer  particularly  to 
the  remarks  and  references  under  Matt.  x.  28,  and  re- 
commend the  reader  to  give  the  most  careful  attention 
to  the  article  in  the  u  Universalist  Expositor,"  from  the 
pen  of  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou,  of  Boston.  Vol.  II.  pp. 
233-241. 

XL VI.     Luke  xii.  10. 

See  remarks  on  Matt.  xii.  31,  32,  Sect.  XIII.  of 
this  chapter  ;  and  Mark  iii.  29,  Sect.  XXXI.  of 
the  same. 

XL  VII.  "  I  tell  you,  nay ;  but  except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  like- 
wise perish.  Or  those  eighteen,  upon  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell, 
and  slew  them,  think  ye  that  they  were  sinners  above  all  men  that 
dwelt  in  Jerusalem  ?  I  tell  you,  nay ;  but  except  ye  repent,  ye  shall 
all  likewise  perish."  Luke  xiii.  3-5. 

At  the  first  verse  of  the  chapter,  we  are  informed, 
that  some  who  were  present  with  the  Saviour,  told  him 
of  the  Galileans,  u  whose  blood  Pilate  had  mingled 
with  their  sacrifices."  These  Galileans  had  come  up 
to  Jerusalem  to  offer  sacrifices  ;  and  when  assembled 
for  that  purpose,  Pilate,  for  their  opposition  to  the 
Roman  government,  as  it  is  supposed,  attacked  them 
with  an  armed  force,  and  put  them  to  death.  So  sin- 
gular a  calamity  might  have  induced  the  people  to 
think  they  had  been  guilty  of  ,some  enormous  crime, 
which  God  had  seen  fit  to  punish  in  this  signal  manner  ; 
but  Jesus  cautions  them  against  such  a  conclusion,  by 
saying,  u  Suppose  ye  that  these  Galileans  were  sinners 
above  all  the  Galileans,  because  they  suffered  such 
things  ?  I  tell  you,  nay  ;  but  except  ye  repent,  ye 
shall  all  likewise  perish  ;  "  ver.  2,  3  ;  that  is,  in  a  like 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          145 

way,  in  a  similar  manner.*  This  cannot  be  applied  to 
the  future  state,  because  it  is  evident,  that  Jesus  intended 
there  would  be  a  similarity  between  the  destruction  of 
the  Jews  and  the  Galileans  here  spoken  of.  The 
Saviour  then  referred  to  the  case  of  eighteen  men  on 
whom  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell,  and  slew  them,  and  in- 
quired, "  Think  ye  that  they  were  sinners  above  all 
men  that  dwell  at  Jerusalem  ?  "  ver.  4.  This  ques- 
tion he  answered  in  the  negative,  and  added,  "  Except 
ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish."  ver.  5.  It  is 
a  fact  which  should  not  be  forgotten,  that  there  was  a 
peculiar  resemblance  between  the  destruction  of  the 
Galileans,  and  of  those  on  whom  the  tower  of  Siloam 
fell,  when  compared  with  the  destruction  of  the  Jews. 
The  first  mentioned,  it  is  thought,  were  slain  for  their 
opposition  to  the  Roman  government  ;  for  the  Galile- 
ans had  a  strong  antipathy  to  the  Romans. 

Now  the  Jews,  at  the  destruction  of  their  city,  per- 
ished, not  only  by  the  assaults  of  the  Roman  armies, 
but  they  fell  in  the  temple  ;  many  of  them  had  their 
blood  mingled  with  their  sacrifices,  and  they  were 
buried  in  the  ruins  of  the  temple. 

Bishop  Pearce  paraphrases  the  passage,  u  Except 
ye,  the  nation  of  the  Jews,  repent,  your  state  shall  be 
destroyed."  Hammond  is  to  the  same  purport  ;  "  If 
you  continue  your  present  wicked  practices,  raising  se- 
dition under  pretence  of  piety,  as  frequently  you  are  apt 
to  do,  then,  as  they  perished  on  the  day  of  Pascha  at 
their  sacrifice,  so  shall  a  multitude  of  you  on  that  very 
day,  in  the  temple,  be  slaughtered  like  sheep,  and  that 
for  the  same  cause,  a  sedition  raised  in  the  city."  Ad- 
am Clarke  says,  on  the  words,  <:ye  shall  all  likewise 

*  The  Jewish  nation  did  perish  in  that  manner.  The  words  did 
not  refer,  and  should  not  be  applied,  to  mankind  generally,  but  to  the 
Jews  in  particular.  The  word  rendered  likeurise,  is  oxtavrtos,  in  ver. 
3,  and  ouolwg  in  ver.  5.  The  former  word  signifies,  according  to  the 
best  Greek  Lexicons,  in  the  same  way,  or  like  manner,  just  so,  exactly 
thus;  and  the  latter  signifies,  in  a  like  manner,  alike,  just  as.  See 
Parkhurst  and  Donnegan,  among  others. 

13 


146  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

perish j"  —  <c  ye  shall  perish  in  a  like  way,  in  the  same 
manner.  This  prediction  of  our  Lord  was  literally 
fulfilled.  When  the  city  was  taken  by  the  Romans, 
multitudes  of  the  priests,  &c.  who  were  going  on  with 
their  sacrifices,  were  slain,  and  their  blood  was  mingled 
with  the  blood  of  their  victims  ;  and  multitudes  were 
buried  under  the  ruins  of  the  walls,  houses,  and  tem- 
ples." 

XLVIII.  "  There  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth,  when  ye 
shall  see  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  all  the  prophets  in  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  you  yourselves  thrust  out.  And  they  shall 
come  from  the  east,  and  from  the  west,  and  from  the  north,  and  from 
the  south,  and  shall  sit  down  in  the  kingdom  of  God."  Luke  xiii. 
28,29. 

See  the  whole  passage,  embraced  in  verses  23  —  30. 
See  also  Sect.  VII.,  of  this  chapter,  on  Matt.  vii. 
22.  23,  and  compare  Sect.  VIII.  of  same  chapter 
on  Matt.  viii.  11,  12. 

Those  who  understand  the  phrase  kingdom  of  God, 
as  here  used,  to  signify  the  final  state  of  the  blessed, 
will  regard  this  text,  as  affording  very  strong  proof, 
against  the  salvation  of  all  mankind.  But  what  reason 
is  there  for  understanding  it  in  this  sense  ?  It  is  not  its 
general  meaning  in  the  New  Testament.  With  a  few 
exceptions,  it  signifies  the  reign  of  Christ  on  the  earth, 
the  kingdom  he  here  set  up,  which  consisted  of  righ- 
teousness, peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  was 
called  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  or  God,  because  its 
King  was  heavenly,  its  laws  heavenly,  and  its  object 
heavenly.  It  is  said  to  be  received,  —  to  be  at  hand, 
—  to  come,  —  to  be  shut  up,  —  to  be  among  men,  — 
to  suffer  violence,  —  to  be  taken  by  force,  —  to  be 
taken  from  the  Jews  and  given  to  the  Gentiles,  —  to 
grow  like  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  &c.  &c.  Now, 
these  expressions  show,  that  the  phrases,  kingdom  of 
God  and  heaven,  are  used  to  signify  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  on  the  earth.  Hence,  being  thrust  out  of  this 
kingdom,  is  not  being  thrust  out  of  immortal  glory,  and 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          14? 

excluded  from  the  final  state  of  the  blessed  ;  but  being 
thrust  out  of  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  in  this  world. 

To  understand  the  text,  then,  we  have  only  to  look 
into  history,  and  we  shall  there  find  it  explained.  It  is 
prophetically  explained  in  the  24th  and  25th  chapters 
of  St.  Matthew,  where  Jesus  foretells  the  judgments 
that  would  fall  upon  his  enemies  at  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  and  the  reward  that  would  then  be  conferred 
upon  his  disciples.  Atid  according  to  Josephus,  we 
find  that  all  these  things  took  place  agreeably  to  our 
Lord's  prediction  ;  so  that  the  Jews,  when  their  tem- 
ple was  destroyed,  and  they  were  dispersed  and  scat- 
tered abroad,  saw  themselves  thrust  out  of  the  king- 
dom, and  those  who  had  been  converted  to  the  Gospel 
from  all  quarters  of  the  world,  sitting  down  in  the  king- 
dom with  Abraham,  &c.,  or  in  the  faith  of  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob.  Matt.  viii.  1 1 .  Hence  the  phrase, 
u  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth," — it  is  expressive  of 
their  wretched  condition  when  thrust  out,  and  suffering 
the  woes  which  then  came  upon  them,  — woes  unpar- 
alleled in  history.  See  on  phrase  "  weeping  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth,"  Sect.  XXIII.  of  this  chapter. 

Josephus  informs  us,  that  not  a  single  Christian  suf- 
fered in  the  awful  siege  of  Jerusalem.  By  observing 
the  signs  which  Christ  said  would  foretell  that  great 
event,  they  all  fled  from  the  city  when  the  calamity  was 
approaching  ;  and  thus  they  rested  securely  in  the 
kingdom  of  God,  under  the  broad  wing  of  the  divine 
protection,  while  the  Jews  were  literally  thrust  out. 
Hence,  the  Saviour  said  to  the  man  who  asked  wheth- 
er few  would  be  saved,  "  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait 
gate  ;  for  many,  Tsay  unto  you,  will  seek  to  enter  in, 
and  shall  not  be  able.  When  once  the  Master  of  the 
house  is  risen  up,  and  hath  shut  to  the  door,  and  ye  be- 
gin to  stand  without,  and  to  knock  at  the  door,  saying, 
Lord,  Lord,  open  unto  us  ;  and  he  shall  answer  and 
say  unto  you,  I  know  you  not  whence  ye  are  :  then 
shall  ye  begin  to  say,  we  have  eaten  and  drunk  in  thy 
presence,  and  thou  hast  taught  in  our  streets.  But  he 


148  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSAL1SM. 

shall  say,  I  tell  you,  I  know  you  not  whence  ye  are  ; 
depart  from  me,  all  ye  workers  of  iniquity." 

"  Strive  to  enter  in,"  —  that  is,  do  not  wait,  but 
seek  now  to  become  my  disciples  ;  for  the  time  when 
you  will  have  the  opportunity  of  seeking  is  short  ;  many 
will  seek  to  enter  my  kingdom,  when  it  is  too  late,  and, 
therefore,  will  not  be  able  ;  they  will  seek  when  they 
see  the  calamities  that  are  coming  upon  them  ;  but  then 
J  shall  have  risen  up  and  shut  the  door,  and  their  time 
for  gaining  admittance  will  be  passed.  Now  all  this  is 
literally  true,  for  when  Jerusalem  was  destroyed,  the 
Jews  ceased  to  enjoy  Gospel  privileges,  and  thus  the 
door  of  the  kingdom  was  closed  against  them.  And 
while  they  saw  themselves  thrust  out,  and  were  suffer- 
ing the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  they  beheld  those 
they  had  persecuted  safe  and  happy  in  the  kingdom. 

XLIX..    Lukexiii.  34,  35. 

See  the  remarks  in  Sect.  XXV.,  of  this  chapter, 
on  Matt,  xxiii.  37. 

L.     Luke  xiv.  12-14. 

This  passage  is  sometimes  thought  to  establish  the 
doctrine  of  a  future  retribution ;  but  is  not  generally 
used  as  direct  proof  of  endless  misery.  Those  who 
would  become  acquainted  with  my  opinion  of  it,  are 
referred  to  my  "  Illustrations  of  the  Parables,27  pp. 
164-171. 

LI.  The  parable  of  the  RICH  MAN  AND  LAZA- 
RUS. See  Luke  xvi.  19  -  31. 

The  portion  of  Scripture  usually  denominated  the 
parable  of  the  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus,  has  long  been 
regarded  as  one  of  the  strong  pillars  of  the  doctrine  of 
endless  misery.  Very  few  people  are  aware  how  much 
has  been  written  on  this  subject  by  Universalists.  The 
arguments,  the  illustrations,  the  definitions,  have  been 
repeated  again  and  again.  All  those  persons  who  have 
had  the  opportunity  to  examine,  and  the  disposition  to 
weigh  candidly,  what  Universalists  have  said  in  regard 
to  this  matter,  are  fully  persuaded  that  this  parable, 
when  understood  according  to  its  original  design,  fur- 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          149 

nishes  no  proof  of  the  heathen  doctrine  of  endless  pun- 
ishment. 

We  maintain,  in  regard  to  this  portion  of  Scripture, 
1st.  Supposing  it  to  be  a  literal  account,  and  not  a 
parable,  it  fails  to  support  the  two  principal  theories  of 
endless  misery,  viz.  either  as  resulting  from  the  decree 
of  God,  or  inflicted  as  a  punishment  for  sin.  There  is 
nothing  said  of  election,  or  reprobation  in  this  account. 
We  are  not  informed,  that  the  beggar  was  elected  from 
all  eternity  to  everlasting  life,  or  that  the  rich  man  was 
reprobated  to'eternal  death.  There  is  not  a  word  from 
which  such  an  inference  could  be  drawn.  Neither  does 
it  prove,  that  the  rich  man  was  punished  after  his  death 
for  his  sins.  Not  a  word  is  uttered  against  his  charac- 
ter ;  not  a  word  in  favor  of  the  character  of  Lazarus. 
Lazarus  is  not  said  to  have  been  good ;  neither  is  the 
rich  man  said  to  have  been  evil.  All  these  things  have 
been  taken  for  granted  ;  but  there  is  no  proof  of  them. 
For  aught  the  parable  states  to  the  contrary,  we  do  not 
know  that  Dives  was  not  the  better  man  of  the  two. 

2d.  We  maintain,  that  the  literal  sense  of  this  pas- 
sage disagrees  utterly  with  the  religious  views  of  those 
who  put  such  a  sense  upon  it.  If  this  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture be  a  literal  account,  then  the  common  doctrine 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  fiery  pit  are  filled  with  wick- 
edness and  spend  their  time  in  blaspheming  God,  is 
false.  The  rich  man  prayed  to  Father  Abraham.  He 
breathed  forth  a  holy  desire.  Warn  my  five  brethren, 
he  said,  that  they  may  not  come  into  this  place.  Surely 
this  was  a  benevolent  prayer.  Again,  Abraham  inti- 
mates, that  there  were  some  persons  in  the  place  of 
happiness  who  desired  to  go  to  the  place  of  misery. 
"Between  us  and  you  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed,  so 
that  they  who  would  pass  from  hence  to  you  cannot." 
Now  all  this  is  directly  opposed  to  the  common  views 
of  partialists  in  regard  to  heaven  and  hell ;  and,  there- 
fore, we  say,  that  the  literal  sense  of  the  passage  we 
are  considering,  disagrees  utterly  with  the  religious 
opinions  of  those  who  put  such  a  sense  upon  it. 
13* 


150  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

3d.  It  is  evident,  that  the  passage  is  a  PARABLE,  and 
not  a  literal  account.  Dr.  Whitby  affirms,  that  this 
parable  was  not  original  with  our  Lord,  but  was  quoted 
by  him  from  certain  Jewish  writings,*  in  which  it  was 
confessedly  used  as  a  parable  ;  and  Archbishop  Tillot- 
son  remarks,  that  in  some  ancient  manuscripts,  the  pas- 
sage commences  as  follows  ;  "And  he  spake  a  parable 
unto  them,  saying,  there  was  a  certain  rich  man,"  &c. 
The  beggar  is  said  to  have  been  carried  by  angels  into 
Abraham's  bosom.  Is  this  to  be  understood  in  the  lit- 
eral sense  ?  Look  once  more.  All  the  parties  in  the 
parable  are  supposed  to  be  in  possession  of  their  bodies 
and  all  their  senses.  They  see,  they  feel,  they  hear, 
they  speak,  they  have  tongues,  and  fingers,  and  eyes. 
How  is  this  to  be  explained,  on  the  presumption,  that 
the  account  is  not  a  parable  ?  '  We  do  not  read,  that 
there  had  been  any  resurrection  from  the  dead.  Noth- 
ing is  said,  that  Abraham,  or  Lazarus,  or  the  rich  man 
had  been  raised  from  the  dead.  We  are  told,  that  the 
rich  man  died  and  was  buried,  and  there  the  account 
leaves  him  in  the  grave.  The  whole  scene  is  laid  in 
hades,  the  grave,  or  state  of  the  dead  ;  and  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  is  not  introduced  into  the 
account  at  all.  But  yet  in  the  grave,  in  the  buried  state, 
without  any  resurrection,  the  parties  have  their  living 
bodies,  eyes,  ears,  fingers  ;  they  converse,  they  reason, 
they  see  each  other.  Is  not  this  clearly  a  parable  ?  a 
parable  founded  on  the  heathen  view's  of  hades  9  and  ut- 
terly opposed,  in  its  literal  features,  to  the  Christian  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection  to  life  and  immortality  ?  Noth- 
ing is  said  in  the  parable  of  a  previous  judgment,  any 
more  than  of  a  resurrection.  The  clergy  preach  much 
about  a  future  judgment ;  but  not  a  hint  is  given  of  it 
in  this  parable.  The  rich  man  was  sent  to  hell  without 
having  been  judged.  How  does  it  happen,  that  he  was 
sent  to  hell  before  the  great  judgment  day,  about  which 
so  much  has  been  said  ?  Was  he  doomed  to  punish- 

*  See  his  note  on  Luke  xvi.  29. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          151 

ment  before  he  was  adjudged  guilty  ?  We  wish  to  have 
some  light  on  these  matters. 

4th.  We  are  confident,  that  in  this  parable  Jesus  re- 
ferred, not  to  scriptural  views  concerning  hades,  but  to 
the  views  entertained  by  the  heathen  concerning  Tar- 
tarus and  Elysium.  These  heathen  views  had  been,  in 
part  at  least,  imbibed  by  the  Jews.  Jesus  referred  to 
them,  not  to  acknowledge  the  heathen  notions  to  be 
well  founded,  but,  by  making  them  the  base  of  a  par- 
able, to  set  forth  a  train  of  interesting  facts.  There 
can  be  no  question,  that  the  passage  is  a  parable  ;  of 
course,  the  truth  to  be  taught  is  to  be  sought  for  under 
the  imagery.  Hades,  or  hell,  and  all  the  personages  men- 
tioned in  the  parable,  are  to  be  viewed  as  parts  of  the 
metaphor. 

Hades,  in  the  Bible,  is  the  state  of  the  dead,  to 
which  all  men  go,  good  and  bad  ;  a  state  of  uncon- 
sciousness, of  silence,  of  darkness.  But  among  the 
heathen,  hades,  or  the  under  world,  was  a  place  of  ac- 
tivity, peopled  with  its  millions  of  heroes,  sages,  and 
others.  Hades,  as  it  is  represented  in  the  parable  be- 
fore us,  is  highly  different  from  the  hades  in  which  the 
sacred  writers  believed.  The  former  is  of  heathen 
origin  ;  and  is  employed  by  the  Saviour,  not  to  recog- 
nise the  heathen  notions  as  true,  but  parabolically,  to 
set  forth  a  train  of  interesting  facts. 

It  is  sometimes  said,  that  Universalists  apply  a  differ- 
ent principle  to  the  interpretation  of  this  parable,  from 
what  they  apply  to  any  other.  But  this  is  a  great  mis- 
take. The  interpretation  in  this  case  is  by  no  means 
singular.  There  are  several  instances  in  the  Scriptures, 
wherein  the  notions  of  the  heathen  concerning  hades  are 
adopted  for  the  purposes  of  figure,  and  without  any  in- 
tention of  recognising  them  as  literally  true.  We  find 
a  passage  in  Ezekiel  xxxi.  15-18,  where  the  temporal 
destruction  of  Pharaoh,  king  of  Egypt,  is  thus  de- 
scribed ;  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  in  the  day  when 
he  went  down  to  the  grave,  I  caused  a  mourning  ;  I 
covered  the  deep  for  him,  and  I  restrained  the  floods 


1 52  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

thereof,  and  the  great  waters  were  stayed  ;  and  I  caused 
Lebanon  to  mourn  for  him,  and  all  the  trees  of  the  field 
fainted  for  him.  I  made  the  nations  to  shake  at  the  sound 
of  his  fall,  when  I  cast  him  down  to  hell  with  them  that 
descend  into  the  pit ;  and  all  the  trees  of  Eden,  the 
choice  and  best  of  Lebanon,  all  that  drink  water  shall 
be  comforted  in  the  nether  parts  of  the  earth.  They 
also  went  down  into  hell  with  him,  unto  them  that  be 
slain  with  the  sword  ;  and  they  that  were  his  arm,  that 
dwelt  under  his  shadow  in  the  midst  of  the  heathen." 
This  is  a  highly  figurative  description  of  the  temporal 
destruction  of  Pharaoh,  and  the  Egyptian  nation. 
Their  fall  is  described  as  a  descent  into  hell,  into  the 
u  nether  parts  of  the  earth,"  where  they  are  said  to 
meet  those  who  had  been  slain  with  the  sword.  The 
whole  is  unquestionably  a  metaphor,  founded  upon  the 
views  which  prevailed  at  that  time  concerning  hates,  or 
the  under  world.  But  a  still  more  striking  passage  is 
found  in  Isaiah  xiv.,  where  the  overthrow  of  the  king 
of  Babylon  is  described  in  the  most  glowing  language. 
The  inhabitants  of  hades  rise  up  to  meet  him  at  his  ap- 
proach ;  the  kings  of  the  lower  regions  rise  from  their 
thrones,  and  address  him.  See  the  passage  ;  "  Thou 
shalt  take  up  this  proverb  against  the  king  of  Babylon, 

and  say,  how  hath  the  oppressor  ceased,"  &c 

"  Hades  from  beneath  is  moved  for  thee,  to  meet  thee 
at  thy  coming  ;  it  stirreth  up  the  dead  for  thee,  even  all 
the  chief  ones  of  the  earth  ;  it  hath  raised  up  from 
their  thrones  all  the  kings  of  the  nations,  —  all 
they  shall  speak,  and  say  unto  thee,  Art  thou  also 
become  weak  as  we  ?  art  thou  become  like  unto 
us  ?  "  verses  1,  9,  10.  Now  let  the  reader  reflect 
upon  this  passage  one  moment.  The  scene  of  it  is  laid 
in  hades,  or  hell.  The  inhabitants  are  the  dead.  The 
dead  rise  up  and  taunt  the  king  of  Babylon  at  his  de- 
struction, saying,  "  Art  thou  become  like  unto  us  ?  " 
This  is  literally  untrue,  and  impossible  ;  because  the 
dead  know  not  anything.  The  whole  passage  is  a  pro- 
sopopoeia, designed  to  represent  the  fall  of  Babylon. 
No  one  supposes,  that  the  views  of  hades  here  intro- 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          153 

duced  by  the  prophet,  were  literally  correct ;  all  agree 
that  he  used  them  metaphorically,  to  give  force  and 
beauty  to  the  subject  of  his  prophecy.  We  take  the 
same  ground  in  regard  to  the  parable  of  the  Rich  Man 
and  Lazarus  ;  and  the  argument  is  precisely  as  good  in 
the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  We  maintain,  that  Jesus 
did  not  refer  to  the  vulgar  notions  of  hades  to  acknowl- 
edge them  correct,  any  more  than  Isaiah  did  ;  they  both 
employed  them  by  way  of  metaphor.  Very  few  people 
are  aware  how  often  the  sacred  writers  draw  their  figures 
from  hades.  "  Thou  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted 
unto  heaven,  (the  highest  state  of  temporal  prosperity,,) 
shall  be  brought  down  to  hades,"  Matt.  xi.  23  ;  that  is, 
the  lowest  temporal  degradation.  u  On  this  rock,  I 
will  build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hades  shall  not 
prevail  against  it."  Matt.  xvi.  18.  Here,  gates  of  hades 
is  a  metaphor  for  the  powers  of  wickedness.  See 
also  Luke  x.  15  ;  Rev.  xx.  14  ;  and  others. 

Now,  when  we  see,  that  it  was  common  for  the  sa- 
cred writers  to  draw  their  metaphors  from  hades,  refer- 
ring even  to  the  gates,  and  representing  the  dead  as 
talking  to  each  other,  and  welcoming  the  approach  of 
those  who  went  down  to  destruction  ;  and  when  we 
consider,  that  the  literal  sense  of  the  parable  of  the 
Rich  Man  and  Lazarus  sets  reason  at  defiance,  and 
contradicts,  essentially,  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  fu- 
ture state,  we  find  that  we  are  obliged  to  adopt  the 
same  principle  in  the  interpretation  of  this  parable,  that 
we  adopt  in  interpreting  other  passages  of  Scripture,  in 
which  the  views  of  the  heathen  concerning  hades  are 
referred  to  metaphorically. 

We  have  not  room  for  further  comments  in  this  place. 
Those  who  desire  to  see  the  parable  more  fully  ex- 
plained, are  referred  to  my  "Illustrations  of  the  Para- 
bles," pp.  210-249.  See  also  Ballou's  "  Select 
Sermons,"  pp.  37-  50.  Also  his  "  Notes  on  the  Par- 
ables," 4th  edition,  pp.  253-283  ;  and  his  more  re- 
cent work,  "Examination  of  the  Doctrine  of  Future 
Retribution,"  pp.  97-102.  Also  Balfour's  "First 


1 54  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

Inquiry,"  3d  ed.  pp.  59-84.  See  also  the  excellent 
work  of  Rev.  Menzies  Rayner,  being  nine  Lectures  on 
this  Parable,  Boston,  1833.  This  is  the  largest  publi- 
cation that  we  have  seen  in  regard  to  this  parable. 

LIT.     Luke  xviii.  17. 

See  remarks  on  Matt,  xviii.  3,  Section  XIX.  of 
this  chapter. 

LIII.     Luke  xviii.  24,  25. 

See  remarks  on  Matt.  xix.  23,  24,  Section  XXII. 
of  this  chapter. 

LIV.  "  But  they  which  shall  be  accounted  worthy  to  obtain  that 
world,  and  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,  neither  marry  nor  are 
given  in  marriage  ;  neither  can  they  die  any  more ;  for  they  are  equal 
unto  the  angels  ;  and  are  the  children  of  God,  being  the  children  of 
the  resurrection."  Luke  xx.  35,  36. 

Our  attention  is  called  to  this  passage  as  containing  a 
serious  objection  against  the  doctrine,  that  all  men  will 
live  again,  in  the  future  state,  and  finally  be  happy.  It 
cannot,  indeed,  be  brought  against  our  views  by  believ- 
ers in  the  endless  misery  of  the  wicked  ;  because  the 
whole  force  of  the  objection  lies  as  much  against  that 
doctrine,  as  against  ours,  —  the  objection  being,  that 
none  but  the  good  will  be  raised  from  the  dead  ;  con- 
sequently the  wicked  will  not  exist  to  be  miserable  at 
all.  The  argument  from  the  passage  is  this, — the  text 
speaks  of  such,  and  only  such  as  are  "  accounted  wor- 
thy to  obtain  that  world  and  the  resurrection  ;"  the  infe- 
rence is,  that  some  are  not  worthy,  and  therefore  will 
not  be  raised,  in  which  case  they  are  annihilated  at 
death. 

The  difficulty  presented  is  on  the  words,  —  ^  they 
which  shall  be  accounted  worthy  to  obtain,"  &c.  Now, 
1o  get  all  the  light  we  can,  it  may  assist  us,  first,  to  look 
into  the  other  Evangelists  and  see  how  they  have  re- 
corded this  conversation  of  our  Lord.  Perhaps  the  same 
language  may  not  be  alike  attributed  to  him  ;  at  least, 
we  should  hardly  expect  either  to  omit  a  very  important, 
if  not  the  MOST  important  qualification  in  the  conversa- 
tion. Let  us  then  see  how  Matthew  has  recorded  it : 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          ]  55 

u  Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the 
power  of  God.  For  in  the  resurrection,  they  neither 
marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels 
of  God  in  heaven."  Matt.  xxii.  29,  30. 

Here,  it  will  be  perceived,  that  the  language  of  our 
Lord,  as  reported  by  Matthew,  is  almost  identical  with 
that  recorded  by  Luke,  excepting  the  qualification  in 
the  text  from  Luke,  about  the  "  worthiness,"  which  is 
wholly  omitted.  Let  us  look  also  at  Mark  : 

"  Do  ye  not,  therefore,  err,  because  ye  know  not  the 
Scriptures,  neither  the  power  of  God  ?  For  when  they 
shall  rise  from  the  dead,  they  neither  marry,  nor  are 
given  in  marriage  ;  but  are  as  the  angels  which  are  in 
heaven."  Mark  xii.  24,  25. 

Here,  again,  that  qualification  is  totally  omitted  ;  and 
the  language,  with  that  exception,  and  the  interrogatory 
form  which  is  given  to  the  first  part  of  the  passage,  is 
very  like  that  in  Luke. 

John  makes  no  record  of  our  Lord's  conversation  with 
the  Sadducees  on  this  subject  at  all.  Now  what  shall 
we  do  ?  We  find,  that  two  out  of  three  Evangelists 
who  report  this  discourse,  make  no  mention  of  the  qual- 
ification found  in  Luke.  But  what  then  ?  Are  we, 
therefore,  to  say  what  Luke  reported  is  not  true  ?  No, 
—  certainly  not.  What  we  are  after  is,  the  weight  of 
evidence  as  to  the  importance  of  that  qualification.  And 
that  weight  is  as  two  to  one  against  the  importance  of 
the  words  in  question.  We  say  against  the  importance, 
because,  had  Matthew  and  Mark  considered  them  im- 
portant, (as  the  objection  we  are  noticing  certainly  is,) 
it  is  hardly  rational  to  conclude  they  would  have  omitted 
them  altogether.  The  most  probable  conclusion  is, 
that,  whatever  'we  may  understand  by  the  words  now, 
Luke  did  not  intend  by  his  report  to  give  a  sense  to  the 
conversation,  which  the  other  Evangelists  did  not  re- 
ceive or  record.  They  all  ought  to  be  understood  as 
harmonizing. 

Now,  in  relation  to  the  phrase  "  worthy  to  obtain," 
we  find,  that  learned  translators,  since  King  James's 


1 56  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

day,  do  not  render  the  passage  as  it  stands  in  our  com- 
mon translation.  Instead  of  the  word  worthy,  Dr» 
Campbell  uses  the  word  "honored"  and  the  other 
appropriate  connecting  words,  which  make  the  text 
speak  of  the  honor  of  the  resurrection.  In  view  of  all 
the  information  we  can  obtain,  we  make  no  doubt,  but 
that  the  passage  should  be  understood  as  saying  in  ef- 
fect, that,  in  reference  to  that  honorable,  glorious,  and 
most  worthy  end,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  (in  which 
all  are  to  share,)  they  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in 
marriage  ;  but  are  as  the  angels  in  heaven.  We  adopt 
this  conclusion,  for  the  following  reasons  :  1.  Matthew 
and  Mark  say  nothing  of  the  qualification  of  worthiness 
as  a  pre-requisite  to  insure  a  resurrection  ;  nor,  indeed, 
anywhere  in  the  Scriptures  (unless  we  except  the  com- 
mon translation  of  Luke)  is  the  resurrection  spoken  of 
as  the  reward  of  merit  in  this  life.  It  is  ascribed  ex- 
clusively to  the  grace  and  power  of  God.  2.  Because 
learned  modern  translators  have  rendered  the  passage  in 
a  different  way,  which  does  not  suppose  the  necessity 
of  the  objection  that  has  been  raised.  And  3.  Because, 
if  there  is  any  one  point  clear  in  all  the  Bible,  it  is,  that 
all  men  shall  be  raised  from  the  dead  ;  and  no  one  pas- 
sage must  be  so  interpreted  or  understood,  as  plainly  to 
contradict  the  general  tenor  of  Scripture  testimony.  As 
evidence  of  the  fact,  that  all  are  to*be  subjects  of  the 
resurrection,  we  ask  the  reader  to  look  at  only  the 
second  verse  after  the  text  quoted  at  the  head  of  the 
article  ;  and  he  will  see,  that  even  Luke  himself  did  not 
understand  his  language  as  sanctioning  the  inference  (for 
it  is  an  inference  at  most) ,  that  all  will  not  live  in  the 
resurrection.  It  will  be  recollected  our  Lord  had 
quoted  from  Exodus  iii.  6,  to  show  that  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob  are  still  living,  since  God,  who  is 
God  of  the  living  only,  is  their  God.  Now  read  verse 
38,  "  For  he  is  not  a  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  liv- 
ing ,  For  ALL  live  unto  him,"  that  is,  all  who,  like 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  are  dead  as  to  the  flesh, 
live  in  the  resurrection. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          1 57 

Moreover,  take  notice  of  St.  Paul's  testimony,  who 
treats  largely,  and  with  much  particularity,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  in  1  Cor.  xv.  See 
verse  22.  "  For  as  in  Adam  all  die,  EVEN  so  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  Again,  verse  49,  "  As 
we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthly,  we  shall  also 
bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly."  Also,  verse  51. 
u  We  shall  not  all  sleep  ;  but  we  shall  all  be  changed, 
in  a  moment,  &c.,  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the 
dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be 
changed."  In  the  whole  description,  Paul  speaks  of 
the  "  dead"  and  of  the  "  resurrection,"  without  any 
qualification  or  restrictions  whatever  ;  on  the  contrary, 
he  uses  the  terms  as  including  the  whole.  This  remark 
will  not  be  questioned. 

On  the  whole,  then,  cc  comparing  Scripture  with 
Scripture,"  —  and  this  is  the  only  safe  rule  in  ascertain- 
ing the  meaning  of  any  doubtful  passage,  — we  are  con- 
strained to  conclude,  that  the  language  of  Luke,  as 
found  in  our  common  translation,  ought  not,  and  must 
not,  be  so  understood  as  to  teach  the  doctrine  of  anni- 
hilation, or  that  the  resurrection  is  the  reward  of  wor- 
thiness, rather  than  the  gift  of  God,  and  that  some,  for 
the  want  of  this  merit,  will  never  be  raised,  but  sleep 
the  sleep  of  eternal  oblivion.  Let  every  one  reflect 
upon  this  subject  for  himself,  as  a  candid  reasoner,  tak- 
ing all  the  facts  into  the  account,  and  we  see  not  how 
he  should  come  to  a  different  conclusion.* 

LV.  "  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God."  John  iii.  3. 

"  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born  again."  John 
iii.  7. 

All  Christians  are  agreed  respecting  the  necessity  of 
the  new  birth  ;  therefore,  all  will  most  heartily  concur 

The  above  article  was  published  some  years  since  in  the  "  Chris- 
tian Intelligencer,"  and  was  by  us  laid  aside,  as  worthy  of  republica- 
tion. 

14 


158  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

in  the  declaration,— ye  must  be  born  again.  But  though 
all  are  agreed  here,  there  is  a  very  great  difference 
of  opinion  respecting  its  nature,  some  believing  it  a  to- 
tal change  of  nature,  and  others  believing  it  a  change  of 
principles,  motives,  and  habits.  There  is  also  a  great 
difference  of  opinion,  respecting  the  necessity  of  the 
new  birth.  Some  say  it  is  necessary,  because  God  has 
ordained,  that  unless  we  are  born  again  here,  we  shall 
never  be  happy  hereafter  ;  others  say,  it  is  necessary  to 
make  us  happy  here,  and  fit  us  for  life's  duties  and  en- 
joyments, and  that  our  final  condition^  is  in  no  way  de- 
pendent on  our  being  born  again  here. 

That  the  Saviour,  in  the  case  before  us,  simply  urg- 
es the  necessity  of  the  new  birth,  with  reference  to  our 
present  condition,  is  evident  from  the  preceding  verses. 
They  read  thus  :  —  "  There  was  a  man  of  the  Phari- 
sees, named  Nicodemus,  a  ruler  of  the  Jews  :  the  same 
came  to  Jesus  by  night,  and  said  unto  him,  Rabbi,  we 
know  that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God  ;  for  no  man 
can  do  these  miracles  that  thou  doest,  except  God  be 
with  him.  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he 
cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  Nicodemus  saith  unto 
him,  how  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old  ?  Jesus 
answered,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a 
man  be  born  of  water,  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  en- 
ter into  the  kingdom  of  God.  That  which  is  born  of 
the  flesh,  is  flesh  ;  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit, 
is  spirit."  Here  it  is  twice  asserted,  that  Nicodemus 
must  be  born  again,  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
whole  question  then,  turns  on  the  meaning  of  the  phrase, 
kingdom  of  God. 

By  looking  at  other  places  where  Christ  taught  the 
new  birth,  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  understanding 
this.  Thus  he  says,  —  "  Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand."  So  John,  —  "Repent,  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  u  Woe  unto  you 
.Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for  ye  shut  up  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  against  men  ;  for  ye  neither  go  in 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          159 

yourselves,  neither  suffer  ye  them  that  are  entering,  to 
go  in."  Matt,  xxiii.  13.  Now  the  kingdom  here 
spoken  of,  as  at  hand,  and  as  being  shut  up,  is  the 
kingdom  of  God  or  of  heaven  ;  but  it  can  mean  no- 
thing more  than  the  reign  or  kingdom  of  Christ  on 
the  earth.  This  was  near,  about  to  come,  when  Christ 
commenced  preaching. 

This,  the  Scribes  would  neither  enter  themselves, 
nor  permit  others,  if  possible  to  prevent  them  ;  and 
therefore,  they  are  said  to  have  shut  it  up,  —  that  is, 
they  would  not  become  converts  to  the  faith  of  Christ, 
or  allow  others  to  do  so,  if  they  could  prevent  it. 

This  makes  the  text  heading  our  article,  perfectly 
plain.  Nicodemus  must  be  born  again,  to  be  a  disciple 
of  Christ,  to  enter  his  kingdom  on  earth,  to  enjoy  the 
blessings  of  his  religion  here.  This  was  the  reason  why 
the  Saviour  said,  "  Ye  must  be  born  again."  It  is  the 
same  as  saying,  ye  must  be  holy  in  order  to  be  happy  ; 
ye  must  obey  me,  if  ye  would  have  true  peace  and 
joy.  Therefore,  the  circumstance,  that  all  are  finally 
to  be  born  into  the  kingdom  of  God  above,  does  not 
affect  the  argument  about  the  necessity  of  conversion 
to  be  happy  here. 

For  further  information  in  regard  to  the  true  sense  of 
the  phrase  kingdom  of  God,  see  Section  III.  of  this 
chap,  on  Matt.  v.  20,  and  Section  XXXIV.  of  the  same 
chap,  on  Mark  ix.  43-48. 

LVI.  "He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life;  and 
he  that  believeth  not  the  Son,  shall  not  see  life ;  but  the  wrath  of 
God  abideth  on  him."  John  iii.  36. 

These  words  are  generally  supposed  to  teach,  that 
the  final  condition  of  man  is  suspended  upon  faith  and 
obedience  in  this  life  ;  for  as  it  is  said,  the  unbeliever 
shall  not  see  life,  and  that  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on 
him,  it  is  thought  he  must  be  endlessly  lost. 

But  the  error  of  this  will  be  seen,  when  we  consid- 
er, that  the  author  of  the  passage  was  speaking  of  the 
present  consequences  of  belief  and  unbelief,  and  not  of 
the  final  condition  of  man.  Observe,  he  that  believeth 


160  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALJSM. 

on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life.  The  wrath  of  God 
abideth  on  the  unbeliever.  This  shows,  that  when  we 
beli-eve,  we  have  the  life,  and  that  when  we  reject  the 
Gospel,  we  subject  ourselves  to  the  divine  displeasure 
or  wrath.  Hence  there  is  no  more  propriety  in  re- 
ferring this  text  to  the  other  world,  than  the  following, 
from  the  same  chapter.  u  He  that  believeth  on  him, 
is  not  condemned  ;  but  he  that  believeth  not,  is  con- 
demned already,  because  he  hath  not  believed  in  the 
name  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God.  And  this  is  the 
condemnation,  that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men 
loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds 
were  evil.  For  every  one  that  doeth  evil  hateth  the  light, 
neither  cometh  to  the  light,  lest  his  deeds  should  be  re- 
proved. But  he  that  doeth  truth,  cometh  to  the  light, 
that  his  deeds  may  be  made  manifest,  that  they  are 
wrought  in  God."  Now,  no  one  would  think  of  bring- 
ing this  text  to  prove  endless  happiness  or  misery,  or 
that  our  final  condition  is  suspended  on  faith.  Why, 
then,  adduce  the  text  ?  for  they  both  teach  the  same 
sentiment. 

"  Shall  not  see  life."  The  reason  is  plain.  Life 
is  obtained  by  faith,  and  consequently  the  unbeliever 
cannot  see  or  enjoy  it.  Only  he  that  believes  has  life  ; 
for  he  that  disbelieves  is  condemned  already,  and  the 
wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him.  But  may  not  the  unbe- 
liever of  to-day,  be  the  believer  of  to-morrow  ?  The 
text,  then,  so  far  from  proving  endless  misery,  does  not 
prove  that  we  shall  remain  without  life  a  single  day  ; 
it  only  proves,  that  while  we  remain  in  unbelief,  we  re- 
main in  condemnation. 

LVII.  "  Marvel  not  at  this ;  for  the  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which 
all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  shall  come  forth  ; 
they  that  have  done  good,  unto  the  resurrection  of  life ;  and  they 
that  have  done  evil,  unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation."  John  v. 
28,29. 

It  has  been  repeatedly  proved,  that  the  word  here 
rendered  u  resurrection,"  does  not  necessarily  imply 
the  raising  of  men  from  a  state  of  natural  death  to  an 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  161 

immortal  existence  ;  because  the  same  word  is  fre- 
quently used  in  a  manner  which  will  not  admit  such  a 
meaning.  In  like  manner  it  has  been  proved,  that  the 
word  rendered  ."  damnation,"  does  not  necessarily  im- 
ply endless  misery  ;  and  for  the  same  reason.  This 
proof  need  not  here  be  repeated.  The  facts  may  be 
properly  taken  for  granted  ;  for  they  will  no  longer  be 
disputed.  From  these  facts,  the  conclusion  is  proper, 
that  the  use  of  these  words,  in  this  passage,  does  not 
furnish  sufficient  proof  that  any  shall  be  miserable  in 
the  future  life,  inasmuch  as  they  admit  a  very  different 
interpretation.  If  such  a  doctrine  be  taught  here,  its 
proof  must  rest  on  something  besides  these  words. 
Something  else  must  be  found,  either  in  the  text  or 
context,  to  prove  that  Jesus  intended  the  resurrection, 
to  immortality,  and  a  state  of  misery  in  a  future  life.  I 
believe  only  two  circumstances  of  this  kind  have  ever 
been  urged  with  much  confidence. 

1.  It  is  said,  that  Jesus  speaks  of  those  who  were 
"in  the  graves";  and  therefore  must  have  intended 
those  who  were  in  a  state  of  natural  death  ;  hence  their 
resurrection  must  be  understood  as  a  resurrection  to 
immortality.  But  we  find  precisely  the  same  English 
word,  and  one  of  kindred  character  in  the  Greek,  in 
another  passage,  which  no  one  thinks  of  applying  to 
the  immortal  resurrection  ;  although  its  general  features 
are  as  applicable  to  that  event,  as  those  of  the  passage 
under  consideration.  "  Then  said  he  unto  me,  son  of 
man,  these  bones  are  the  whole  house  of  Israel ;  be- 
hold, they  say,  Our  bones  are  dried,  and  our  hope  is 
lost ;  we  are  cut  off  for  our  parts.  Therefore  prophe- 
sy and  say  unto  them,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  ;  Be- 
hold, O  my  people,  I  will  open  your  graves,  and  cause 
you  to  come  up  out  of  your  graves,  and  bring  you  into 
the  land  of  Israel.  And  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the 
Lord,  when  I  have  opened  your  graves,  O  my  people, 
and  brought  you  up  out  of  your  graves,  and  shall  put 
my  spirit  in  you,  and  ye  shall  live,  and  I  shall  place 
you  in  your  own  land  ;  then  shall  ye  know  that  I  the 
14* 


162  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

Lord  have  spoken  it,  and  performed  it,  saith  the  Lord." 
Ezek.  xxxvii .  11  —  14. 

It  is  here  asserted,  that  the  graves  should  be  opened 
and  men  should  be  brought  up  out  of  their  graves,  and 
made  to  live  ;  and  yet  nobody  supposes  the  prophet  to 
mean  a  resurrection  to  immortality.  It  is  so  evident 
that  merely  a  happy  change  in  the  temporal  affairs  of 
the  Israelites  is  intended,  that  no  one  pretends  to  dis- 
pute it.  It  follows,  that  the  use  of  the  word,  graves, 
by  the  Evangelist,  cannot  prove  that  Jesus  speaks  of 
the  resurrection,  properly  so  called. 

Indeed,  the  use  of  this  word  would  lead  to  a  contra- 
ry conclusion.  So  far  as  I  recollect,  the  immortal 
resurrection  is  nowhere  mentioned  in  connexion  with 
the  graves,  in  any  manner  whatever.  It  is  certain,  that 
the  two  words  are  not  so  connected  in  any  other  place 
in  the  New  Testament.  A  resurrection  to  immortality 
is  never  described  as  a  resurrection  from  the  graves 
djunipsia) ;  but  whenever  any  adjunct  of  this  kind  is 
used,  the  phrase  is,  invariably,  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  (avdoTuaig  twv  vtxQwv.)  Since,  then,  a  coming 
forth  from  the  graves  is  used  to  denote  a  change  in  the 
temporal  affairs  of  men,  but  never  to  denote  a  resurrec- 
tion to  immortality,  —  unless  this  text  be  a  solitary  ex- 
ception,—  we  may  properly  conclude,  that  the  word 
graves,  here,  instead  of  proving  that  the  immortal  res- 
urrection is  intended,  rather  furnishes  proof  to  the 
contrary. 

The  passage  in  Matt,  xxvii.  52,  53,  is  no  exception 
to  the  foregoing  remark,  however  it  might  appear  at 
first  sight.  Although  the  word  rendered  graves 
(pvijlieiu)  is  the  same  which  is  used  by  John,  yet  the 
arising  K/t'e^),  and  coming  forth  («|d^oW«?),  are  ex- 
pressed by  terms  very  different  from  that  by  which 
John  describes  the  resurrection,  (avdaraatg.)  And  the 
word  which  Matthew  uses  here  to  denote  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus,  (s'/f0(w,)  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  is  very  different  from  that  which  John 
uses  in  the  text. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         163 

2.  It  is  alleged,  that  Jesus  speaks  of  a  separation 
between  those  who  have  done  good,  and  those  who 
have  done  evil  ;  consequently,  he  must  refer  to  the  fu- 
ture life,  since  no  such  separation  is  made  in  this  world. 
In  other  words,  he  speaks  of  the  recompense  both  of 
good  and  evil  works,  while  no  such  recompense  is  ren- 
dered in  the  present  life. 

This  circumstance,  ought,  however,  to  lead  to  a  dif- 
ferent conclusion.  For  in  the  first  place,  the  Scrip- 
tures plainly  testify,  that  men  are  rewarded  and  pun- 
ished in  this  life.  Thus  the  wise  man  says,  u  Behold 
the  righteous  shall  be  recompensed  in  the  earth,  much 
more  the  wicked  and  the  sinner."  Prov.  xi.  31.  And 
our  Saviour  declares,  "  The  Son  of  man  shall  come 
in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  with  his  angels,  and  then  he 
shall  reward  every  man  according  to  his  works  ;  verily 
I  say  unto  you,  there  be  some  standing  here  which  shall 
not  taste  of  death  till  they  see  the  Son  of  man  coming 
in  his  kingdom."  Matt.  xvi.  27,  28.  These  are  plain 
declarations,  that  a  just  retribution  is  administered  on 
the  earth. 

In  the  next  place,  there  is  not  a  single  instance  in 
the  New  Testament,  besides  this  place  in  John,  in 
which  a  resurrection  and  a  retribution  for  good  and 
evil,  are  mentioned  in  connexion.  Take  for  example, 
Luke  xx.  35,  36,  and  1  Cor.  xv.  42-57.  These  are 
evidently  descriptions  of  a  resurrection  to  immortality  ; 
but  do  you  find,  in  either  place,  any  thing  concerning  a 
retribution  -  for  good  and  evil  ?  Not  one  word .  And 
the  same  holds  true  in  respect  to  every  passage  where 
this  resurrection  is  mentioned. 

True,  there  are  passages  which  speak  of  a  retribu- 
tion, which  many  suppose  to  belong  to  the  future  life. 
Such,  for  instance,  is  Matt.  xxv.  46  ;  —  "  These  shall 
go  away  into  everlasting  punishment,  —  but  the  righ- 
teous into  life  eternal."  But  nothing  is  said  here  of  a 
resurrection,  —  nothing  of  men  having  been  dead,  or 
having  been  raised  from  the  dead.  And  thus  it  is,  in 
regard  to  all  other  passages  which  describe  a  retribu- 


164  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

tion.  Whenever  the  sacred  writers  mention  a  retribu- 
tion, they  are  silent  in  regard  to  a  resurrection.  And 
whenever  they  mention  a  resurrection,  they  are  silent 
in  regard  to  a  retribution.* 

The  circumstance,  therefore,  that  John,  in  this  pas- 
sage, mentions  a  retribution  for  good  and  evil,  instead 
of  proving  that  he  intended  to  describe  a  resurrection  to 
immortality,  in  fact  furnishes  proof  to  the  contrary. 
Because  such  a  retribution  is  declared  to  be  adminis- 
tered in  this  life, — but  it  is  never  associated  by  the 
sacred  writers,  with  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  If 
we  interpret  this  passage,  therefore,  to  mean  a  resurrec- 
tion of  mankind  from  natural  death,  some  to  happiness 
and  some  to  misery,  we  must  do  so  in  defiance  of  the 
invariable  usages  of  the  New  Testament  writers.  We 
must  suppose  that  John  joined  together  those  things 
which  all  the  others  were  very  cautious  to  keep  asunder. 

Hence  it  appears,  that  the  interpretation  given  of 
this  passage  by  Universalists,  is  confirmed  by  the  very 
circumstances  which  others  have  alleged  to  discredit  it. 
And,  on  the  other  hand,  the  interpretation  given  by 
some  of  our  brethren  is  shown  to  be  false  by  the  very 
circumstances  which  they  have  alleged  for  its  confirm- 
ation. 

LVIII.  "  Then  said  Jesus  again  unto  them,  I  go  my  way,  and  ye 
shall  seek  me,  and  shall  die  in  your  sins :  whither  I  go,  ye  cannot 
come."  John  viii.21.  See  also  vii.  34. 

This  was  spoken  to  the  unbelieving  Jews.  It  did 
not  refer  to  their  natural,  but  to  their  national  dissolu- 
tion. Our  view  is,  that  the  Saviour  intended  to  say  to 
them,  that  their  iniquities  should  be  their  ruin  and  de- 
struction. They  should  die,  perish,  and,  as  a  nation, 
be  dissolved,  in  their  sin  of'  rejecting  the  Messiah. 
We  all  know  that  the  dispersed,  broken,  and  captive 
state  of  the  Jews,  was  represented  by  the  prophets  un- 
der the  figure  of  death.  Ezekiel  describes  them  as 

*  These  are  very  weighty  facts,  which  we  do  most  seriously  com- 
mend to  the  reader's  attention.  1  am  indebted  for  the  above  article 
on  John  v.  28,  29,  to  the  kindness  of  Rev.  L.  R.  Paige. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          165 

dead,  and  in  their  graves,  and  their  bones  as  being  dry  ; 
and  their  return  from  captivity  he  describes  as  the  re- 
animation  of  these  dry  bones,  which  live  again,  and 
stand  upon  their  feet,  a  great  army.  It  will  be  seen, 
then,  that  this  was  a  national  death,  and  was  not  intend- 
ed to  apply  to  individuals  :  that  the  common  interpreta- 
tion is  wide  off  from  the  truth. 

Should  it  be  asked  if  the  words  of  our  text  do  not 
naturally  imply,  that  the  Jews  .would  never  go  where 
Christ  was  going,  we  answer  no.  Our  Saviour  only 
spake  of  present  time.  He  did  not  say  that  those 
Jews  never  would  be  able  to  come  to  him.  It  might 
have  been  impossible  for  them  to  come  at  that  time  ;  at 
some  future  time  it  may  be  possible  for  them  to  come. 
Jesus  used  the  same  language  to  his  apostles  that  he 
had  addressed  to  the  Jews.  u  Little  children,  yet  a 
little  while  I  am  with  you.  Ye  shall  seek  me  ;  and  as 
I  said  unto  the  Jews,  whither  I  go  ye  cannot  come,  so 
now  I  say  to  you."  John  xiii.  33.  When  Simon 
Peter  said  unto  Jesus,  "  Lord,  whither  goest  thou  ? " 
Jesus  answered  him,  "  Whither  I  go  thou  canst  not  fol- 
low me  note,  but  thou  shalt  follow  me  afterwards." 
John  xiii.  36.  The  same  word  may  be  applied  to  the 
Jews.  They  could  not  follow  Christ  then,  but  they 
would  at  another  time.  Our  Saviour  predicted,  that 
there  will  be  a  time  when  they  shall  say,  "  Blessed  is 
he  that  cometh  in  the  ijame  of  the  Lord  ;  "  and  Paul 
says,  "  that  blindness  in  part  is  happened  to  Israel, 
until  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in.  And  so 
all  Israel  shall  be  saved  ;  as  it  is  written,  there  shall 
come  out  of  Zion  the  deliverer,  and  shall  turn  away 
ungodliness  from  Jacob."  Here  we  are  certified,  that, 
although  Israel  was  then  blind,  and  would  remain  blind, 
"until  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in,"  yet 
u  all  Israel  shall  be  saved."  "  For  God  hath  con- 
cluded them  all  in  unbelief,  that  he  might  have  mercy 
upon  all."  Rom.  xi.  25,  26,  32. 

Although  it  may  seem  needless  to  add  any  thing 
more  in  confirmation  of  our  reasoning,  we  may  consid- 


166  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

er  what  more  the  Scripture  says  upon  this  subject. 
When  our  Saviour  told  his  disciples  that  he  was  soon 
to  leave  them,  and  that  whither  he  went  they  could  not 
go,  it  undoubtedly  troubled  them,  for  we  find  our  Sa- 
viour immediately  after  giving  them  comfort.  "Let 
not  your  hearts  be  troubled,"  says  he  ;  "ye  believe  in 
God,  believe  also  in  me.  In  my  Father's  house  there 
are  many  mansions  ;  if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have 
told  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you."  John 
xiv.  1,2.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  if  our  Saviour 
went  to  prepare  a  place  for  those  to  whom  he  had  said, 
"  whither  I  go  ye  cannot  come,"  he  could  not  have 
meant,  that  they  never  would  come  whither  he  was  then 
going.  There  would  be,  no  propriety  in  his  preparing 
a  place  for  them,  unless  they  were  to  inhabit  it.  But 
our  Saviour's  plainness  precludes  the  necessity  of  our 
argument.  He  says,  u  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a 
place  for  you,  I  will  come  again,  and  receive  you  unto 
myself;  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also.  Let 
not  your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid.  Ye 
have  heard  how  I  said  unto  you,  I  go  away  and  come 
again  unto  you.  If  ye  loved  me,  ye  would  rejoice,  be- 
cause, I  said,  /  go  unto  the  Father  ;  for  my  Father  is 
greater  than  I."  John  xiv.  3,  27,  28. 

LIX.  "  He  that  rejecteth  me,  and  receiveth  not  my  words,  hath 
one  that  judgeth  him :  the  word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same  shall 
judge  him  in  the  last  day."  John  xii.  48. 

To  what  day  is  it  likely  Jesus  referred  in  the  text 
under  consideration  ?  By  a  careful  attention  to  the 
context,  we  shall  at  once  see  that  the  subject,  of.  which 
Jesus  was  speaking,  regarded  the  Jews  only.  Jesus 
came  to  that  people  with  the  Gospel  of  Divine  Grace, 
with  what  he  called  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  the  word 
which  he  preached  to  that  people  was  the  word  of  the 
kingdom.  As  a  people,  the  Jews  rejected  Jesus,  and 
did  not  receive  his  words.  And  what  did  he  tell  them 
would  be  the  consequence  of  their  rejecting  him  ? 
Now,  when  we  get  the  right  answer  to  this  question,  it 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          167 

is  very  likely  that  we  shall  find  the  meaning  of  our 
text.  If  the  reader  will  look  at  the  parable  of  the 
vineyard,  recorded  Matt,  xxi.,  and  be  careful  to  ob- 
serve the  condemnation  which  the  enemies  of  Jesus 
passed  on  themselves  by  answering  the  question  which 
Jesus  put  to  them  at  the  close  of  the  parable,  our  sub- 
ject will  be  brought  into  the  light.  See  verse  40,  &c. 
"  When  the  Lord,  therefore,  of  the  vineyard  cometh, 
what  will  he  do  unto  those  husbandmen  ?  They  say  un- 
to him,  he  will  miserably  destroy  those  wicked  men, 
and  will  let  out  his  vineyard  unto  other  husbandmen, 
which  shall  render  him  the  fruits  in  their  season.  Jesus 
saith  unto  them,  did  ye  never  read  in  the  Scriptures, 
the  stone  which  the  builders  rejected,  the  same  is  be- 
come the  head  of  the  corner  :  this  is  the  Lord's  doing, 
and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes  ?  Therefore  say  I  un- 
to you,  the  kingdom  of  God  shall  be  taken  from  you, 
and  given  to  a  nation  bringing  forth  the  fruits  thereof." 
Here,  let  us  carefully  ask,  when  was  that  time,  in 
which  the  kingdom  of  God  was  taken  from  the  Jews 
and  given  to  the  Gentiles  ?  Keep  this  parable  of  the 
vineyard  in  mind  ;  carefully  observe  that  Jesus  was  re- 
jected and  slain  by  those  wicked  husbandmen  ;  and 
also  that  he  was  the  stone  which  the  builders  rejected, 
and  compare  with  the  text  which  we  are  considering. 
"  He  that  rejecteth  me,  and  receiveth  not  my  words, 
hath  one  that  judgeth  him  :  the  word  that  I  have  spok- 
en, shall  judge  him  in  the  last  day."  That  is  the  day 
when  the  Lord  of  the  vineyard  cometh,  and  miserably 
destroyeth  those  wicked  husbandmen,  and  letteth  out 
his  vineyard  to  other  husbandmen. 

Corresponding  with  the  parable  of  the  vineyard, 
above  noticed,  we  find  the  following  in  Matt.  xxii.  See 
the  parable  of  the  marriage  which  the  king  made  for  his 
son.  Verse  7.  u  But  when  the  king  heard  thereof,  he 
was  wroth  ;  and  he  sent  forth  his  armies,  and  destroyed 
those  murderers,  and  burned  up  their  city."  When 
was  the  city  of  those  wicked  Jews,  who  rejected  Je- 
sus, who  did  not  receive  his  word,  and  who  put  him  to 


168  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM 

death,  burned  ;  and  when-  were  they  destroyed  by  the 
armies  which  God  sent  against  them  ?  When  these 
things  took  place,  our  text  was  fulfilled.  This  period 
of  time  is  called  in  Matt.  xxiv.  the  end  of  the  world, 
meaning  the  end  of  the  Jewish  age.  It  was  so  clearly 
set  forth  by  Jesus,  and  limited  to  the  generation  in 
which  he  lived,  that  it  is  often  referred  to,  by  the  apos- 
tles in  their  writings.  See  Heb.  x.  25.  "  But  ex- 
horting one  another  ;  and  so  much  the  more  as  ye  see 
the  day  approaching."  Now  it  will  strike  the  mind  of 
the  reader  at  once,  that  the  apostle  would  not  have 
used  this  form  of  expression,  had  it  not  been  a  fact, 
that  a  certain  period  or  day  was  generally  expected,  and 
well  understood.  And  it  is  equally  apparent,  that  the 
day  to  which  he  alluded,  was  near  at  hand,  at  the  time 
he  wrote.  The  signs  of  this  day  were  at  that  time  ap- 
parent. See  1  John  ii.  18.  "  Little  children,  it  is 
the  last  time  ;  and  as  ye  have  heard  that  antichrist  shall 
come,  even  now  are  there  many  antichrists  ;  whereby 
we  know  that  it  is  the  last  time."  This  last  time,  and 
the  last  day^  mentioned  in  our  text,  are  undoubtedly 
the  same  time  or  day.  When  Jesus  spake  of  the  signs 
which  should  precede  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  he 
mentioned  what  John  in  the  above  quoted  passage  allu- 
ded to.  Matt.  xxiv.  24.  "  For  there  shall  arise  false 
christs,  and  false  prophets,  and  shall  show  great  signs 
and  wonders  ;  insomuch  that,  if  it  were  possible,  they 
shall  deceive  the  very  elect." 

LX.     "  I  pray  for  them ;  I  pray  not  for  the  world,  but  for  them 
which  thou  hast  given  me  :  for  they  are  thine."     John  xvii.  9. 

It  has  been  inferred  from  this  passage,  that  Jesus  re- 
fused to  pray  for  ail  mankind.  "  I  pray  not  for  the 
world,"  he  said,  —  that  is,  for  the  wicked,  unbelieving 
world.  And  from  this,  it  is  argued,  that  the  unbeliev- 
ing world  is  beyond  the  hope  of  mercy,  and  can  never 
be  saved. 

But  we  are  confident,  that  such  an  inference  is  alto- 
gether unjustifiable.  Jesus  was  in  the  habit  of  praying 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          169 

for  his  most  bitter  enemies  ;  he  prayed  for  his  murder- 
ers. He  taught  his  disciples  to  love  their  enemies,  and 
bless  them. 

A  careful  examination  of  John  xvii.  will  show,  that 
the  common  use  which  is  made  of  the  passage  at  the 
head  of  this  section,  is  altogether  unjustifiable.  Let 
the  reader  take  his  Bible  and  commence  the  reading  of 
John  xvii.  He  will  find,  that  in  that  part  of  the  prayer 
which  ends  with  the  fifth  verse,  Jesus  prayed  for  him- 
self only.  If  he  will  read  from  the  beginning  of  the 
sixth,  to  the  end  of  the  19th  verse,  he  will  be  satisfied 
that  Jesus  was  not  praying  for  the  world,  but  his  apos- 
tles only.  If  he  will  then  begin  the  twentieth  verse, 
he  will  see  that  Jesus,  instead  of  saying  that  these  were 
all  for  whom  he  ever  permitted  himself  to  pray,  says, 
"NEITHER  PRAY  I  FOR  THESE  ALONE." 
He  prayed  for  his  disciples  only  at  one  time,  and  then 
he  prayed  "  not  for  the  world."  But  the  words  just 
quoted  show  that  afterwards  he  prayed  for  others.  If 
the  reader  wishes  to  know  who  were  those  others  for 
whom  he  prayed,  by  reading  through  the  chapter,  he 
can  ascertain.  He  prayed  for  those  who  should  be- 
lieve on  him  through  the  word,  —  that  they  all  might 
be  one,  as  he  and  his  Father  were  one.  He  prayed 
afterwards  for  "  THE  WORLD  "  ;  that  it  might 
believe  and  know  that  he  was  sent  of  God.  This 
agrees  with  the  object  of  his  mission.  He  died  for  the 
world  ;  he  "  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all,  to  be  testi- 
fied in  due  time  "  ;  and  John  testifies,  that  the  Father 
sent  him  uto  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world."  People 
have  obtained  wrong  ideas  of  this  prayer,  because  they 
did  not  read  it  through  with  attention. 

LXI.    "  Those  that  thou  gavest  me,  I  have  kept,  and  none  of 
them  is  lost  but  the  son  of  perdition."    John  xvii.  12. 

There  is  no  doubt,  that  Judas  is  here  referred  to  by 
"the  son  of  perdition." 

Judas  was  lost  ;  but  mark,  the  passage  does  not  say 
he  was  endlessly  or  irrecoverably  lost.  Jesus  came 
15 


170  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

into  the  world,  to  seek  and  save  that  which  was  lost. 
And  there  is  not  a  hint  in  the  whole  Bible,  that  any  are 
irrecoverably  lost,  so  that  the  grace  of  Christ  cannot 
reach  them.  "  Where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much 
more  abound."  Rom.  v.  20.  Grace  shall  abound  over 
all  sin. 

Why  was  Judas  called  the  son  of  perdition  ?  Be- 
cause he  was  lost.  It  is  a  Hebrew  form  of  speech. 
The  son  of  any  thing,  according  to  oriental  idiom,  may 
be  either  what  is  closely  connected  with,  dependent  on, 
like  it,  the  consequence  of  it,  worthy  of  it,  &c.  See 
my  "  Illustrations  of  the  Parables,"  p.  97.  Perdition 
signifies  any  lost  condition  ;  and  a  son  of  perdition  is 
one  that  is  lost.  But  remember,  Jesus  came  to  save 
the  lost. 

But  for  further  remarks  on  this  text,  and  for  the  ex- 
amination of  the  case  of  Judas,  at  large,  see  Section 
XXX.,  of  this  chapter,  under  Matt.  xxvi.  24. 

LXII.     "  That  he  might  go  to  his  own  place."     Acts  i.  25. 

These  words  are  thought,  by  some,  to  furnish  indu- 
bitable evidence  of  the  endless  damnation  of  Judas. 
He  went  to  his  own  place,  it  is  said  ;  and  then  it  is 
added,  his  own  place  was  hell. 

But  we  are  confident  this  passage  does  not  respect 
Judas  at  all  ;  but  his  successor  in  the  apostleship.  The 
church  was  gathered  together  at  Jerusalem.  And  Pe- 
ter proposed  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  apos- 
tasy of  Judas.  He  quoted  a  passage  from  the  Psalms  ; 
"  His  bishopric  let  another  take."  The  church  ap- 
pointed two  of  their  good  men,  desiring  God  to  show 
which  of  the  two  would  be  most  acceptable  in  his 
sight.  And  they  prayed.  Is  it  to  be  supposed,  they 
prayed  that  Judas  might  go  to  hell  ? 

By  a  slight  transposition  in  the  words  of  the  narra- 
tion, it  will  be  seen,  that  the  expression,  might  go  to 
his  own  place,  referred  not  to  Judas,  but  to  the  person 
who  was  to  succeed  him  in  the  bishopric.  u  And  they 
prayed  and  said,  Thou,  Lord,  which  knowest  the  hearts 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  171 

of  all  men,  show  whether  of  these  two  thou  hast  chosen, 
that  he  may  take  part  of  this  ministry  and  apostleship, 
that  he  might  go  to  his  own  place,  from  which  Judas, 
by  transgression,  fell."  Acts  i.  24,  25.  Thus  it 
will  be  seen,  that  the  place  was  the  place  in  the  apos- 
tleship. Judas  did  not  go  to  it,  but  fell  from  it  by 
transgression. 

Dr.  Priestley  thought,  that  a  parenthesis  should  be  in- 
troduced into  the  verse,  thus  ;  u  Show  whether  of 
these  two  thou  hast  chosen,  that  he  may  take  part  of 
this  ministry  and  apostleship,  (from  which  Judas,  by 
transgression  fell,)  that  he  [viz.  the  one  who  succeeded 
Judas]  might  go  to  his  own  place,"  meaning  the  bish- 
opric. See  the  commentary  of  Adam  Clarke,  at  the 
end  of  Acts,  chap.  i. 

LXIII.  '*  And  as  many  as  were  ordained  to  eternal  life,  believed." 
Acts  xiii.  48. 

This  is  regarded,  by  some,  as  a  very  difficult  text  to 
understand  ;  inasmuch,  as  it  seems  to  teach  the  doc- 
trine of  election  to  eternal  life,  and,  by  antithesis,  rep- 
robation to  eternal  death.  It  is  awful  to  charge  upon 
the  God  of  heaven,  a  design  and  intention  to  make  his 
creatures  endlessly  miserable,  —  of  all  errors,  this  is 
the  most  injurious.  God  has  certainly  no  decree  ad- 
verse to  the  final  holiness  of  all  men.  Does  not  his 
holiness  crave,  that  all  men  shall  be  holy  ?  Does  he 
not  invite  all,  saying,  u  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth, 
come  ye  to  the  waters  "  ?  "  The  spirit  and  the  bride 
say  come,  and  whosoever  will,  let  him  come,  and  par- 
take of  the  water  of  life  freely."  So  saith  the  Bible. 
Surely,  there  is  no  decree  against  man's  final  salva- 
tion, for  such  precious  invitations  to  all  mankind  would 
not  be  found  in  the  Scriptures,  if  God  had  excluded  any 
from  salvation  by  a  divine  decree.  Paul  says  to  Tim- 
othy ;  u  God  will  have  all  men  to  be  saved,  and  come 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth."  That  God,  who  wills 
the  salvation  of  all,  has  not  excluded  any  from  salvation 
by  a  divine  decree. 


172  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

But  the  honest  inquirer  will  ask  the  meaning  of  the 
words,  u  And  as  many  as  were  ordained  to  eternal  life, 
believed."  Almost  all  the  commentators  tell  us,  that 
the  passage  would  be  better  translated,  "  And  as  many 
as  were  DISPOSED  to  eternal  life,  believed."  As  many 
as  were  in  a  fit  frame  of  mind,  who  had  a  temper  and 
disposition  to  receive  the  truth,  believed. 

What  were  the  circumstances,  under  which  these 
words  were  spoken  ?  Paul  was  preaching  at  Antioch, 
both  to  Gentiles  and  Jews.  On  the  second  Sabbath  of 
his  preaching  there,  almost  the  whole  city  came  together 
to  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord.  When  the  Jews  saw 
the  multitude,  they  were  filled  with  rage,  and  spoke 
against  what  Paul  had  preached,  contradicting  and  blas- 
pheming. They  were  not  disposed  to  receive  eternal 
life.  When  Paul  saw  their  conduct,  he  waxed  bold, 
and  told  the  Jews,  that  they  judged  themselves  unworthy 
of  eternal  life.  They  were  not  disposed  to  it.  Hence 
he  says  ;  "  Lo,  we  turn  to  the  Gentiles,  for  so  hath  the 
Lord  commanded  us,  saying,  I  have  set  thee  to  be  a 
light  of  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  shouldst  be  for  salvation 
unto  the  ends  of  the  earth."  Were  the  Gentiles  any 
better  disposed  ?  Yes,  for  we  read  ;  u  When  the 
Gentiles  heard  this,  they  were  glad,  and  glorified  the 
word  of  the  Lord."  They  were  prepared,  disposed, 
in  a  fit  frame  of  mind  to  receive  the  truth  ;  and,  conse- 
quently, they  believed.  But  the  Jews  were  not  dis- 
posed to  receive  the  truth,  and  hence  they  did  not  be- 
lieve, but  cast  it  from  them.  And  Paul  and  Barnabas 
shook  the  dust  off  their  feet,  and  left  them. 

There  are  many  people  in  the  present  day,  who  can- 
not believe  in  Universalism.  They  are  full  of  preju- 
dice against  this  doctrine.  When  it  is  preached,  they 
do  not  generally  believe  it  ;  and  why  ?  Is  it  the  want 
of  evidence  ?  No  ;  they  are  not  disposed  to  receive  it. 
They  have  not  an  untrammelled  spirit,  free  from  big- 
otry ;  they  are  not  in  a  proper  frame  of  mind.  If  they 
were  free  from  bigotry  and  prejudice,  they  would  be- 
lieve ;  because  the  truth  is  plain,  and  rests  on  abundant 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  173 

evidence.  They  judge  themselves  unworthy  of  Uni- 
versalism,  as  the  Jews  judged  themselves  unworthy  of 
Christianity  ;  they  are  not  in  the  right  frame  of  mind 
to  believe  ;  and,  of  course,  they  will  not  receive  that 
doctrine. 

LXIV.    "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "     Acts  xvi.  30. 

Much  use  has  been  made  of  this  text,  to  show,  that 
the  endless  happiness  of  mankind  is  in  jeopardy  ;  and 
that  it  devolves  on  them  to  secure  their  everlasting 
peace.  Persons  who  give  the  passage  this  construction 
suppose,  that  when  the  jailer  said,  "  Sirs,  what  must  I 
do  to  be  saved  ?  "  he  meant,  what  must  I  do  to  be 
saved  from  endless  misery  !  We  are  very  far  from  en- 
tertaining such  an  opinion.  There  is  nothing  that  would 
lead  to  this  in  the  whole  connexion  ;  every  thing  is  for- 
eign from  such  a  supposition. 

Paul  and  Silas,  servants  of  Jesus  Christ,  had  been  cast 
into  prison,  under  the  false  charge  of  troubling  the  city, 
and  teaching  customs  not  lawful  for  the  Romans  either 
to  receive  or  observe.  The  jailer,  having  been  charged 
to  keep  them  safely,  thrust  them  into  the  inner  prison, 
and  made  their  feet  fast  in  the  stocks.  Night  came  on, 
and  the  jailer  laid  himself  down  to  sleep  ;  but  not  so 
with  Paul  and  Silas.  Notwithstanding  they  were  in 
prison,  surrounded  with  darkness,  yet  they  were  full  of 
joy  ;  and  at  midnight  they  engaged  in  religious  exer- 
cises, praying  and  singing  praises  to  God,  and  the  pris- 
oners heard  them.  In  the  midst  of  this  beautiful  scene, 
there  was  a  sudden  shaking  of  the  walls  of  the  prison, 
and  a  great  noise.  The  very  foundations  of  the  prison 
shook,  for  it  was  a  "  great  earthquake."  All  the  doors 
of  the  prison  were  thrown  open,  and  every  prisoner's 
bands  were  loosed.  In  the  midst  of  this  tumult,  the 
jailer  awaked  from  a  profound  sleep,  and  seeing  the 
prison  doors  all  open,  and  supposing  that  all  his  prison- 
ers had  fled,  he  thought  of  nothing  but  taking  his  life. 
He  accordingly  drew  his  sword,  and  would  have  killed 
himself,  had  he  not  been  interrupted  by  Paul,  who  cried 
15* 


174  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

to  him  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Do  thyself  no  harm,"  as- 
suring him,  that  all  the  prisoners  were  present,  and  still 
in  his  custody.  Paul's  answer  shows  the  cause  of  this 
attempt  at  suicide  ;  the  jailer  supposed  his  prisoners  had 
fled  ;  and  he  knew  he  was  answerable  for  the  safe-keep- 
ing of  the  prisoners,  even  with  his  own  life  ;  but  the 
answer  of  the  apostle  immediately  gave  him  peace  on 
that  point. 

The  jailer  must  have  perceived,  from  these  unusual 
events,  that  the  apostles  were  the  servants  of  the  true 
God,  as  they  professed  to  be.  He  saw,  that  the  arm 
of  Omnipotence  was  outstretched  to  save  them.  In 
the  circumstances  of  that  earthquake,  of  the  bursting 
open  of  the  prison-doors,  of  the  loosing  of  every  one's 
bands,  and  yet  the  prisoners  refusing  to  depart  from 
their  dungeons,  —  all  must  have  taught  him,  that  the 
God  whom  these  apostles  adored,  was  the  true  God  ; 
that  the  cause  which  they  defended  was  the  cause  of 
righteousness  and  justice  ;  in  one  word,  that  they  were 
right,  and  their  persecutors  were  wrong.  This,  of 
course,  immediately  created  the  desire  in  his  mind  to 
become  one  of  them  ;  to  espouse  the  cause  which  they 
espoused,  and  serve  the  Master  whom  they  served. 

From  this  arose  his  question,"  Sirs,  what  must  I  do 
to  be  saved  ?  "  or  what  must  I  do  to  be  one  of  the 
saved  ?  What  must  I  do  to  be  as  you  are  ?  to  be  one 
of  your  number  ?  This  word  SAVED  was  one  of  the 
most  common  words  used  in  that  age,  to  represent  a 
person  who  had  been  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  It  was  applied  both  to  the  state  of  light,  knowl- 
edge, and  happiness  into  which  Christianity  elevated 
men,  and  described  also  the  believers  themselves.  A 
few  passages  will  suffice.  Christ  said  to  the  woman, 
Luke  vii.  50,  "  Thy  faith  HATH  SAVED  THEE."  "By 
which  also  ye  ARE  SAVED."  1  Cor.  xv.  2.  "  For  by 
grace  ye  ARE  SAVED."  Eph.  ii.  8.  "  Who  HATH 
SAVED  us,  and  called  us,"  &c.  2  Tim.  i.  9.  "  Ac- 
cording to  his  mercy  He  SAVED  us."  Titus  iii.  5. 
"  The  like  figure  whereunto  even  baptism  doth  also  now 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          175 

save  ws."  1  Peter  iii.  21.  So  the  Christians  themselves 
were  called,  THE  SAVED.  See  Acts  ii.  47,  "  The 
Lord  added  to  the  church  daily,  THE  SAVED."  See 
Adam  Clarke.  "  Those  who  were  saved,"  he  says. 
See  also  1  Cor.  i.  18.  "  For  the  preaching  of  the 
cross  is  to  them  that  perish,  foolishness  ;  but  unto  us 
which  are  [THE]  SAVED  (see  Macknight)  it  is  the  pow- 
er of  God."  How  evident,  that  the  Christians  were 
called  "  THE  SAVED."  See  2  Cor.  ii.  15.  "  For  we  are 
unto  God  a  sweet  savor  of  Christ,  in  them  that  are 
saved  and  in  them  that  perish."  In  all  these  passages 
the  article  occurs,  and  should  be  preserved  in  the  trans- 
lation. Once  more.  See  Rev.  xxi.  24.  "  And  the 
nations  of  them  which  are  THE  SAVED  shall  walk  in  the 
light  of  it." 

It  will  be  useless  to  adduce  further  testimony.  We 
see  very  plainly,  that  the  Christians  being  delivered  from 
ignorance  and  sin,  were  said  to  be  saved,  and  were 
called  The  Saved,  by  way  of  distinction  from  the  rest 
of  the  world.  When,  therefore,  the  jailer  said  to  the 
apostles,  "  Sirs,  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  we  un- 
derstand him  to  have  meant,  what  must  I  do  to  be  as 
you  are  ?  what  must  I  do  to  become  a  Christian  ?  what 
must  I  do  to  be  one  of  the  saved  ?  The  answer  of 
Paul  was  very  appropriate  under  this  view  of  the  sub- 
ject, "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved,  and  thy  house."  No  respect  is  had 
here  to  saving  men  from  eternal  damnation.  The  jailer 
was  familiar  with  the  language  which  the  Christians  ap- 
plied to  themselves,  and  he  used  the  same  language  be- 
cause he  wished  to  be  brought  into  the  same  situation, 
and  be  under  the  same  protection  which  they  enjoyed. 

LXV.  "  And  the  times  of  this  ignorance  God  winked  at;  but 
now  commandeth  all  men  everywhere  to  repent :  because  he  hath  ap- 
pointed a  day,  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness, 
by  that  man  whom  he  hath  ordained  ;  whereof  he  hath  given  assur- 
ance unto  all  men,  in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead."  Acts 
xvii.  30,  31. 

As  this  passage  is  not  generally  adduced  in  proof  of 


176  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALTSM. 

endless  punishment,  but  merely  in  proof  of  a  day  of 
judgment  in  the  future  state,  we  shall  offer  but  few  re- 
marks in  this  place. 

God  commanded  all  men  to  repent  when  he  sent  his 
Son  into  the  world.  Hence  Jesus  began  to  preach, 
saying,  "  Repent,  for  the  reign  of  heaven  is  at  hand," 
(Matt.  iv.  17.,)  and  he  directed  his  apostles  to  preach 
in  the  same  manner. 

Why  did  God  command  all  men  to  repent  ?  Be- 
cause he  had  appointed  a  day  [the  Gospel  day]  in  which 
he  would  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  Jesus 
Christ.  This  does  not  mean  a  day  of  twenty-four 
hours.  A  day  in  Scripture  often  expresses  a  long  se- 
ries of  years.  See  Psalms  xcv.  7-11  ;  Heb.  iii.  8, 
9  ;  Deut.  xxxii.  35.  That  the  period  of  the  Messiah's 
reign  is  called  a  day,  is  evident  from  Zech.  xiii.  1  —  8  ; 
xiv.  6  — 9  ;  Isaiah  xlix.  8  ;  comp.  2  Cor.  vi.  2  ;  John 
xvi.  26  ;  viii.  56.  ;  Mai.  iii.  2. 

God  doth  now  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by 
Jesus  Christ.  He  hath  committed  all  judgment  unto 
the  Son,  who  said,  when  on  earth,  "  now  is  the  judg- 
ment of  this  world,"  John  xii.  31.  To  judge,  in  this 
sense,  signifies  to  rule  and  govern,  and  this  is  a  sense 
which  the  word  frequently  bears  in  the  Scriptures. 

One  great  mistake  that  men  have  run  into  in  regard 
to  these  judgments  is  this, — that  they  are  not  in  this 
world.  The  cause  of  this  error,  is  a  criminal  inatten- 
tion to  the  instruction  which  the  sacred  writers  afford 
on  this  topic.  It  is  said  of  Jehovah,  "  verily  he  is  a 

God    that   JUDGETH    IN    THE    EARTH."       Ps.    IviH.   11. 

"  The  righteous  shall  be  recompensed  IN  THE  EARTH, 
much  more  the  wicked  and  the  sinner."  Prov.  xi.  31. 
"  When  thy  judgments  are  IN  THE  EARTH,  the  in- 
habitants of  the  world  will  learn  righteousness."  Isaiah 
xxvi.  9.  It  is  said  of  Christ,  "  He  shall  not  fail  nor 
be  discouraged  till  he  have  set  JUDGMENT  IN  THE 
EARTH."  Isaiah  xlii.  4.  So  when  the  Saviour  came 
upon  the  earth,  agreeably  to  this  prophecy,  he  said, 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  177 

"  For  JUDGMENT  I  am  come  into  this  world."  John 
ix.  39. 

Let  it  be  distinctly  remembered,  that  all  God's  judg- 
ments, when  rightly  understood,  are  a  cause  of  joy. 
They  are  gloomy,  they  are  dreadful,  we  acknowledge, 
when  separated  from  the  end  which  God  has  in  view  in 
ordaining  them  ;  but  when  connected  with  his  purpose, 
and  with  the  final  consummation  that  he  will  accomplish 
by  them,  they  are  bright,  they  are  beautiful,  they  are 
glorious.  There  is  a  passage  or  two  in  the  Psalms, 
which  occur  with  great  force  to  the  mind,  in  this  con- 
nexion ;  we  mean  those  passages  in  which  David  calls 
upon  all  creation  to  REJOICE,  because  God,  and  none 
else,  will  JUDGE  THE  EARTH.  We  must  quote  one  or 
two  of  them.  u  He  shall  JUDGE  the  people  righteous- 
ly. Let  the  heavens  REJOICE  and  let  the  earth  be 
glad ;  let  the  sea  roar,  and  the  fulness  thereof ;  let  the 
field  be  joyful,  and  all  that  is  therein ;  then  shall  all  the 
trees  of  the  wood  rejoice  before  the  Lord  ;  [Why  ? 
why  all  this  joy  ?]  for  he  cometh,  for  he  cometh  to 
JUDGE  THE  EARTH  ;  he  shall  judge  the  world  with 
righteousness,  and  the  people  with  his  truth."  Psalms 
xcvi.  10-13.  This  is  the  way  God's  judgments  should 
be  regarded.  Take  one  more  passage.  u  Make  a 
joyful  noise  unto  the  Lord,  all  the  earth  ;  make  a  loud 
noise,  and  rejoice,  and  sing  praise.  Sing  unto  the 
Lord  with  the  harp  ;  with  the  harp,  and  the  voice  of  a 
psalm.  With  trumpets,  and  sound  of  cornet,  make  a 
joyful  noise  before  the  Lord,  the  King.  Let  the  sea 
roar,  and  the  fulness  thereof ;  the  world  and  they  that 
dwell  therein.  Let  the  floods  clap  their  hands  ;  let  the 
hills  be  joyful  together,  before  the  Lord,  FOR  HE  COM- 
ETH TO  JUDGE  THE  EARTH  ;  with  righteousness  shall 
he  judge  the  world,  and  the  people  with  equity."  Psalms 
xcviii.  4-9. 

Thus  we  see,  God  will  judge,  that  is,  rule  and  gov- 
ern the  earth  by  Jesus  Christ,  in  his  Gospel.  The 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah  is  set  up  among  men.  He 
shall  judge  the  people  righteously.  He  came  to  judge 


178  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  earth.  He  came,  and  established  his  moral  king- 
dom on  the  earth,  and  now  he  rules  the  world  by  the 
power  of  that  kingdom.  Mankind  are  not  to  go  into 
some  other  world  to  be  judged  ;  the  judgment  is  es- 
tablished on  the  earth.  God  hath  given  assurance  of 
this  in  raising  up  Jesus  from  the  dead. 

On  the  subject  of  "judgment,"  see  "  Universalist 
Expositor,"  Vol.  III.  p.  312.  Skinner's  "  Universal- 
ism  Illustrated  and  Deiended,"  pp.  229-243,  and  Bal- 
four's  "Essays,"  pp.  221-305. 

LXVI.  "  And  as  he  reasoned  of  righteousness,  temperance,  and 
judgment  to  come,  Felix  trembled."  Acts  xxiv.  25. 

Does  the  passage  say  this  judgment  was  to  come  in 
the  future  state  ?  No.  The  passage  forbids  such  an 
interpretation,  for  the  best  critics  tell  us,  that  it  should 
be  rendered,  the  judgment  about  to  come.  Dr.  Haweis 
translates  the  passage  as  follows.  u  And  as  he  dis- 
coursed of  righteousness,  and  temperance  and  the  judg- 
ment ivhich  is  ready  to  be  revealed^  &c.  See  Bal- 
four's  "Essays,"  pp.  279-286. 

LXVII.  "  And  thinkest  thouthis,  O  man,  that  judgest  them  which 
do  such  things,  and  doest  the  same,  that  thou  shall  escape  the  judg- 
ment of  God  ?  Or  despisest  thou  the  riches  of  his  goodness,  and 
forbearance,  and  long-suffering ;  not  knowing  that  the  goodness  of 
God  leadeth  thee  to  repentance  ?  But,  after  thy  hardness  and  im- 
penitent heart,  treasurest  up  unto  thyself  wrath  against  the  day  of 
wrath,  and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God ;  who  will 
render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds."  Rom.  ii.  3-6. 

We  most  fully  believe,  that  all  sin  will  be  justly  and 
adequately  punished,  — that  "  God  will  render  to  every 
man  according  to  his  deeds."  This  is  the  doctrine 
which  the  passage  before  us  was  intended  to  teach. 

What  is  meant  by  the  wrath  of  God,  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures  ?  We  are  not  to  understand  this  language, 
as  though  God  could  be  exercised  by  wrath  or  anger, 
in  the  same  manner  with  feeble,  sinful  man.  It  is  the 
explicit  testimony  of  the  apostle,  that  "  God  is  love  ; 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  179 

and  he  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God  and  God 
in  him  ;  "  and  surely  we  must  not  interpret  any  pas- 
sage of  Scripture  in  such  a  way  as  will  conflict  with  the 
principle  therein  laid  down.  By  a  careful  examination 
of  the  passages  in  which  the  wrath  of  God  is  men- 
tioned, we  are  persuaded,  that  the  sacred  writers  put  it 
as  a  metonymy  for  the  divine  judgments.  When  God 
is  said  to  pour  out  his  wrath  upon  men,  the  expression 
is  highly  figurative,  referring  to  the  judgments  which 
God,  always  merciful,  inflicts  upon  rebellious  nations, 
or  individuals,  for  their  sins.  The  phrase,  u  day  of 
wrath,"  like  the  phrase,  "  day  of  judgment,"  does  not 
in  every  instance  in  which  we  find  it  in  the  Scriptures, 
refer  to  the  same  particular  time.  These  phrases  refer  to 
different  times,  or  periods  of  judgment,  when  God,  in 
an  eminent  and  remarkable  manner,  punishes  wicked 
nations  for  their  offences.  The  day  of  wrath,  or  judg- 
ment, to  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  was  the  time  when 
God  destroyed  those  cities  by  fire  from  heaven.  Then 
they  were  judged,  or  punished  for  their  sins  ;  it  was  a 
time,  or  a  day  of  judgment  or  wrath  to  them  ;  they  had 
long  been  preparing  themselves,  by  their  increasing 
wickedness,  for  that  judgment  ;  or,  to  use  the  language 
of  the  passage  before  us,  they  had  been  "  treasuring  up 
unto  themselves  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath  ;  "  and 
when  the  time  had  fully  arrived,  the  wrath  of  God  was 
poured  out  upon  them  to  the  uttermost.  So  when  Baby- 
lon was  destroyed,  it  was  her  day  of  judgment,  or  day  of 
wrath.  The  time  of  the  destruction  of  any  people,  or 
nation,  was  a  day  of  judgment,  or  wrath,  to  them.  This 
was  preeminently  true  of  the  Jewish  nation  ;  for  nothing 
is  more  common  with  the  sacred  writers,  than  to  repre- 
sent the  time  of  the  destruction  of  the  Jews,  by  the 
phrase,  "day  of  judgment,"  "day  of  wrath,"  or  the 
time  of  the  "  pouring  out  of  the  wrath  of  God."  Such 
we  believe  to  be  the  true  application  of  the  passage  at 
the  head  of  this  section. 

In  Rom.  i.  18,  Paul  lays  down  this  general  princi- 
ple, "  the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from  heaven,  [to 


180  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UN1VERSALISM. 

men  on  the  earth,]  against  all  ungodliness  and  un- 
righteousness of  men,  who  hold  the  truth  in  unrigh- 
teousness." Throughout  the  remainder  of  chapter  i. 
Paul  shows  the  truth  of  this  statement  in  reference  to 
the  Gentile  nations.  In  verses  21  -  32,  he  describes 
their  abominable  wickedness,  and  informs  us  of  the  wrath 
of  God,  or  the  punishment,  which  came  upon  them  in 
consequence  of  it.  And  as  Mr.  Balfour  says,  "  It  de- 
serves every  man's  notice,  that  the  apostle  does  not 
say  that  they  who  commit  such  things  are  worthy  of 
endless  misery.  No ;  he  says,  "  who  knowing  the 
judgment  of  God,  that  they  who  commit  such  things 
are  worthy  of  death,  not  only  do  the  same,  but  have 
pleasure  in  them  that  do  them."  Though  such  persons 
knew  that  the  judgment  of  God  had  come  on  the  old 
world,  on  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  &c.  for  such  crimes, 
yet  they  were  not  deterred  from  the  commission  of 
them.  It  is  evident  that  death,  which  Paul  here  calls 
the  judgment  of  God,  was  the  highest  and  most  severe 
punishment  inflicted  upon  them.  He  gives  not  the 
slightest  intimation,  that  their  punishment  extended  be- 
yond death.  To  say  it  did,  and  call  it  eternal  death, 
is  travelling  beyond  the  record,  and  boldly  asserting 
things  without  proof ;  for  the  phrase  eternal  death  does 
not  occur  in  the  Bible."  "  Essays,"  pp.  243,  244. 

In  chap.  ii.  Paul  proceeds  to  speak  of  the  Jews  ; 
and  he  tells  them,  ver.  24,  "  that  the  name  of  God  is 
blasphemed  among  the  Gentiles  through  you."  That 
Paul  was  addressing  the  Jews,  in  chap.  ii.  see  Whitby. 
Now  it  is  evident  to  every  reader  of  the  Scriptures, 
who  understands  what  he  reads,  that  the  day  on  which 
God  poured  out  his  judgments  upon  the  Jews  was  a  day 
of  wrath.  See  the  manner  in  which  Zephaniah  de- 
scribes the  punishment  of  the  Jews,  by  Nebuchadnezzar 
king  of  Babylon,  who  was  an  instrument  in  the  hand 
of  God  for  that  purpose,  chap.  i.  8-18.  That  time 
is  called  "  the  day  of  the  Lord's  sacrifice,"  ver.  8,  9  ; 
"that  day,"  ver.  10;  "that  time,"  ver.  12;  "the 
great  day  of  the  Lord,  which  was  near  and  hasted 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  1 8 1 

greatly,"  ver.  14  ;  "  a  DAY  OF  WRATH,  (mark  the 
expression,)  a  day  of  trouble  and  distress,  a  day  of 
wasteness  and  desolation,  a  day  of  darkness  and  gloom- 
iness, a  day  of  clouds  and  thick  darkness,"  ver.  15. 
This  is  a  very  full  proof  of  what  is  said  Job  xxi.  30, 
ct  The  wicked  is  reserved  to  the  day  of  destruction, 
they  shall  be  brought  forth  to  the  day  of  icrath."  We 
read  again,  Job  xxxvi.  13,  "  The  hypocrites  in  heart 
heap  up  wrath,"  which  answers  to  the  language  of  the 
passage  we  are  considering,  "treasure  up  wrath  against 
the  day  of  wrath."  See  the  destruction  of  Babylon 
foretold  in  the  same  terms,  Isaiah  xiii.  9. 

The  New  Testament  writers,  in  most  cases,  gather 
their  figures  and  phraseology  from  the  Old  Testament. 
Hence  they  speak  of  the  destruction  of  the  Jews,  and 
of  the  Mosaic  economy,  under  the  same  figures  and 
terms,  which  we  have  already  considered.  John  the 
Baptist,  inquired  of  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees, 
u  Who  hath  warned  you  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come  ?  "  Matt.  iii.  7.  This  did  not  mean,  nor  does 
it  say,  wrath  to  come  in  the  immortal  state.  It  was, 
as  Adam  Clarke  explains  it,  u  the  desolation  which  was 
about  to  fall  on  the  Jewish  nation  for  their  wickedness." 
Com.  on  the  place  ;  and  as  Lightfoot  says,  "It  came 
to  pass  with  them,  when,  about  forty-four  years  after 
this,  they  were  destroyed  by  the  Romans."  Works, 
IV.  264.  Paul,  writing  concerning  the  Jews,  says, 
"  The  wrath  is  come  upon  them  to  the  uttermost." 
1  Thess.  ii.  16.  They  had  been  treasuring  up  wrath 
against  the  day  of  wrath.  Jesus,  when  discoursing 
upon  their  destruction,  told  them,  tc  Ye  have  killed  the 
prophets,  and  ye  also  persecute  the  church  of  God." 
He  says,  u  Fill  wp,  then,  the  measure  of  your  fathers." 
Matt,  xxiii.  32.  They  did  fill  up  that  measure ;  they 
treasured  up  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath  ;  they  set 
at  defiance  the  laws  of  God  ;  and  when  Paul  wrote  to 
the  Thessalonians,  the  Jews  were  ripe  for  destruction. 
The  "  harvest  "  had  come  ;  the  end  of  the  world,  or  age, 
was  near  ;  God  was  about  to  thrust  in  the  sickle,  and 
16 


182  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UN1VERSALISM. 

gather  the  tares  to  be  burned.  This,  then,  was  the  day 
of  wrath,  referred  to  in  the  passage  at  the  head  of  this 
section.  And  that,  at  that  time,  God  punished  the 
Jews  according  to  their  deeds,  see  Matt.  xvi.  27,  28. 

LXVIII.  "  Know  ye  not,  that  the  unrighteous  shall  not  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God  ?  "     1  Cor.  vi.  9. 

The  unrighteous  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God 
while  they  remain  in  that  condition.  The  phrase 
"kingdom  of  God,"  we  have  already  frequently  ex- 
plained in  these  pages.  It  signifies  the  moral  reign  of 
Jesus  on  the  earth,  of  which  a  man  cannot  be  a  subject 
until  he  is  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  his 
soul  is  purified  thereby.  Jesus  said  to  his  own  disci- 
ples, tc  Except  ye  be  converted,  and  become  like  little 
children,  ye  shall  not  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
Matt,  xviii.  3.  This  was  founded  on  the  principle 
recognised  in  the  passage  at  the  head  of  this  section, 
viz.  that  the  unrighteous  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God.  St.  Paul  says,  Rom.  xiv.  17,  "  The  kingdom 
of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink  ;  but  righteousness  and 
peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  Now,  if  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  righteousness,  how  can  unrighteous- 
ness enter  into  it  ?  No  quality  of  heart  opposed  to  the 
principles  of  the  kingdom,  can  dwell  in  the  kingdom. 

But  it  may  be  inquired,  what  then  will  become  of  the 
unrighteous  ?  will  they  be  absent  from  the  kingdom  for- 
ever ?  Yes  ;  as  unrighteous  persons,  they  can  never 
enter  in  ;  but,  remember,  these  unrighteous  persons 
maybe  cleansed,  and  made  righteous,  and  then  they 
can  enjoy  the  kingdom.  Hence,  the  apostle  said  to 
his  Corinthian  brethren,  after  having  assured  them, 
that  the  unrighteous  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  God,  "And  such  were  some  of  you ;  but  ye  are 
washed,  but  ye  are  sanctified,"  &c.  Verse  11.  While 
in  an  unrighteous  state,  they  could  not  enter  through 
the  gates  into  the  city  of  the  New  Covenant ;  but,  being 
washed,  and  purified,  and  justified,  they  could  enter  in. 
So  will  it  be  with  all  men.  They  shall  all  at  last  be- 


IVERSITYj 

NEW  TESTAMENT  PASS AGESYEXPfcArNEB. * *•     183 


come  righteous.  Sin  shall  be  finished/alrd  transgres- 
sion have  an  end;  "every  knee  shall  DOW,  and  every 
tongue  shall  confess,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father,'7  Phil.  ii.  9-  11  :  "all  shall 
be  made  alive  in  Christ,"  and  "God  shall  be  all  in 
all,"  1  Cor.  xv.  22,  28.  Then  ALL  will  be  the  happy 
subjects  of  God's  moral  kingdom. 

LXIX.    "  For  he  that  eateth  and  drinketh  unworthily,  eateth  and 
drinketh  damnation  to  himself."     1  Cor.  xi.  29. 

The  apostle  was  speaking  of  the  Lord's  supper, 
which  the  Corinthians  did  not  celebrate  in  a  proper 
manner.  See  verses  20-22.  "Wherein  ye  come 
together  in  one  place,  this  is  not  to  eat  the  Lord's  sup- 
per. For  in  eating  every  one  taketh  before  other  his 
own  supper  ;  and  one  is  hungry  and  another  is  drunken. 
What  !  have  ye  not  houses  to  eat  and  to  drink  in  ?  or 
despise  ye  the  church  of  God,  and  shame  them  that 
have  not  ?  What  shall  I  say  unto  you  ?  shall  I  praise 
you  in  this  ?  I  praise  you  not."  Here  we  see,  that  eat- 
ing and  drinking  unworthily  was  taking  the  Lord's  sup- 
per in  an  improper  manner,  not  as  a  religious  festival  in 
commemoration  of  Christ's  death,  and  as  a  memorial 
of  his  love,  but  as  a  common  feast.  They  ate  it  for 
the  purpose  of  satisfying  hunger  and  thirst,  and  some 
of  them  even  were  drunken.  The  sole  object  of  the 
Lord's  supper,  and  the  only  worthy  object  for  which  it 
could  be  eaten,  is  set  forth  in  verses  24  —  26  by  the 
apostle,  where  he  shows  that  we  are  to  observe  it  in 
remembrance  of  Christ,  and  to  bear  witness  to  his 
death,  and  for  no  other  object.  Hence,  he  says, 
verse  27,  u  Wherefore,  whosoever  shall  eat  this  bread 
and  drink  this  cup  of  the  Lord  unworthily,  shall  be 
guilty  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord,"  a  figurative 
expression  to  show  that  they  should  be  guilty  of  slight- 
ing the  body  and  sacrifices  of  Christ,  and  offering  in- 
dignity to  them.  He  recommends  the  Corinthians 
therefore  to  examine  themselves  and  so  observe  the 


184  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

ordinance ;  that  is,  in  this  state  of  self-examination  let 
them  continually  attend  to  the  solemn  service. 

u  Eateth  and  drinketh  damnation  to  himself."  This 
has  no  reference  to  punishment  in  the  future  state  of 
being  ;  but  to  the  evils  which  the  Corinthians  brought 
upon  themselves  by  their  evil  practices.  By  eating  and 
drinking  unworthily,  they  ate  arid  drank  the  guilt  of  per- 
verting a  beautiful  and  beneficial  ordinance  to  sensual 
and  degrading  purposes.  This  was  the  condemnation, 
or  damnation,  which  they  ate  and  drank  to  themselves. 

Bishop  Burnet  says,  they  "that  received  the  bread 
and  wine  only  as  bare  bodily  nourishments,  without 
considering  that  Christ  has  instituted  them  to  be  the 
memorials  of  his  death,  such  persons  are  guilty  of  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  :  that  is,  they  are  guilty 
either  of  a  profanation  of  the  sacrament  of  his  body 
and  blood,  or  they  do  in  a  manner  crucify  him  again, 
and  put  him  to  an  open  shame."  *  *'  *  *  *  Of  such 
as  did  thus  profane  this  institution,  he  says  further, 
u  that  they  do  eat  and  drink  their  own  damnation  or 
judgment  ;  that  is,  punishment  ;  for  the  word  rendered 
damnation,  signifies  soiiretim.es  only  temporary  punish- 
ments. So  it  is  said,  that  judgment  (the  word  is  the 
same)  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God.  God  had  sent 
such  judgments  upon  the  Corinthians  for  those  disorder- 
ly practices  of  theirs,  that  some  had  fallen  sick,  and 
others  had  died,  perhaps  by  reason  of  their  drinking  to 
excess  in  those  feasts."  "  Expos,  of  the  XXXIX. 
Articles,"  Art.  28. 

LXX.    "  If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let  him  be 
Anathema  Maranatha."     1  Cor.  xvi.  22. 

The  phrase  Jlnathema  Maranatha,  is  composed  of 
certain  words,  which  are  left  untranslated  in  our  version 
of  the  Bible.  Why  they  were  left  untranslated,  we 
know  not.  The  word  anathema  signifieth,  a  curse,  or  to 
be  accursed.  It  occurs  six  times  in  the  New  Testament. 
Acts  xxiii.  14.  u  We  have  bound  ourselves  under  a 
great  curse."  Rom.  ix.  3.  u  I  could  wish  that  myself 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          185 

were  accursed  from  Christ,"  &c.  1  Cor.  xii.  3.  "  No 
man  speaking  by  the  spirit  of  God  calleth  Jesus  accurs- 
ed." u  Gal.  i.  8,  9.  "  If  any  man  preach  any  other 
gospel  unto  you,  than  that  ye  have  received,  let  him  be 
accursed."  See  both  verses  last  referred  to.  So  in 
the  verse  before  us,  "  If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  let  him  be  Anathema,"  that  is,  as  it  is 
translated  in  Gal.  i.  8,  9,  let  him  be  accursed,  or  let 
him  be  anathematized.  So  much  for  the  word  Ana- 
thema. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  word  Maranatha.  This  is 
not  like  Anathema,  a  Greek  word ;  but  it  is  a  phrase 
from  the  Syriac  language,  and  signifies,  Our  Lord  com- 
eth.  Mr.  Locke,  paraphrases  the  whole  verse  as  fol- 
lows :  "if  any  one  be  an  enemy  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  let  him  be  accursed,  or  devoted  to  destruction. 
The  Lord  cometh  to  execute  vengeance  on  him." 
Wakefield  translates  JHaranatha,  "  our  Lord  is  com- 
ing," and  he  says,  "  I  see  no  reason  for  leaving  the 
Syriac  words  at  the  end  of  this  verse  untranslated  and 
unintelligible."  Calmet  says  (and  he  is  high  authority), 
"  Maranatha  is  made  up  of  two  Syriac  words,  signi- 
fying the  Lord  cometh  ;  that  is,  the  Lord  will  surely 
come,  and  will  execute  this  curse,  by  condemning  those 
who  love  him  not." 

With  these  helps  we  arrive  at  the  following  sense  : 
If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  let  him  be 
accursed.  The  Lord  cometh  to  execute  that  curse.  It 
may  now  be  inquired,  when  was  the  Lord  to  come  to 
execute  judgment  on  those  who  loved  him  not  ?  When 
did  the  Maranatha  happen  ?  We  answer,  during  the 
generation  which  was  on  the  earth  when  Paul  wrote,  for 
the  Christians  at  that  time  certainly  expected  to  live  un- 
til the  corning  of  Christ  took  place.  Hear  what  James 
saith  to  his  brethren,  chap.  v.  7,  8.  "  Be  patient, 
therefore,  brethren,  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Be- 
hold, the  husbandman  waiteth  for  the  precious  fruit  of 
the  earth,  and  hath  long  patience  for  it,  until  he  receive 
the  early  and  latter  rain.  Be  ye  also  patient ;  stabtah 
16* 


186  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

your  hearts  ;  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord  dravveth  nigh  ;  " 
that  is,  the  JMaranatha  draweth  nigh.  The  coming  of 
the  Lord  took  place,  as  we  have  said,  during  the  apos- 
tolic age.  It  was  then  that  the  judgments  and  curses 
denounced  on  the  Jews  who  loved  not  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  were  executed  on  them.  They  were  then 
Anathema  Maranatha,  that  is,  they  were  anathema- 
tized at  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 

Dr.  Lightfoot  says,  "  The  phrase  in  the  apostle  re- 
fers, first,  to  Christ's  corning  in  vengeance  against  Jeru- 
salem and  the  Jewish  nation,  as  the  execration  is  first 
to  be  pitched  upon  them  :  c  MaranathaJ  '  Our  Lord 
cometh.'  Many  and  dreadful  things  are  spoken  of  this 
his  coming  in  the  Scripture,  of  which  we  have  spoken 
in  several  places,  as  we  have  come  along.  So  that  in 
this  sentence  he  doth  both  justly  doom  this  unbelieving 
and  wretched  nation  to  their  deserved  curse  ;  and  doth 
withal,  in  this  phrase,  intimate,  that  the  doomed  curse 
was  near  approaching,  in  the  Lord's  coming  in  ven- 
geance against  them.  Now,  though  we  construe  the 
words  in  such  an  application  to  the  Jews,  it  is  not  ex- 
clusively ;  but  that  their  sense  reacheth  also  to  every 
one  that  loveth  not  the  Lord  Jesus  of  what  nation 
soever,  and  the  Lord  will  come  in  time  to  make  him 
Anathema."  Works,  III.  p.  249. 

LXXI.  "  For  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ,  that  every  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in  his  body,  ac- 
cording to  that  he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad."  2  Cor.  v. 
10.  See  also  Rom.  xiv.  10. 

We  have  already  proved,  again  and  again,  in  this 
work,  that  the  judgments  of  God  are  in  the  earth. 
But  before  considering  our  brief  remarks  on  the  above 
passage,  we  desire  the  reader  to  consult  the  following 
places  on  the  subject  of  judgment ;  Sections  IX.  and 
LXV.  of  this  chapter. 

There  are  four  words  in  this  verse,  which  are  sup- 
plied by  the  translators.  We  will  put  down  the  pas- 
sage with  those  four  words  inclosed  in  brackets,  as  fol- 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          187 

lows  ;  "  For  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  Christ  ;  that  every  one  may  receive  the 
things  [done]  in  [his]  body,  according  to  that  he  hath 
done,  whether  [it  be]  good  or  bad."  The  supplying 
of  these  words  evidently  alters  the  sense  of  the  passage, 
in  a  very  material  point  of  view.  The  translators, 
under  the  influence  of  their  long-nurtured  prejudices, 
supposed  that  it  was  the  intention  of  Paul,  in  this  pas- 
sage, to  teach  the  doctrine  of  a  future  retribution  ;  and 
seeing  very  clearly,  that  the  obvious  sense  of  the  Greek 
was  far  from  being  favorable  to  that  doctrine,  they  sup- 
plied these  words  to  make  out  what  they  regarded  as 
the  apostle's  meaning.  They  put  these  words  in  italics, 
as  they  will  be,  or,  at  any  rate,  should  be,  found  in  all 
Bibles,  to  show  that  they  are  supplied  words.  But  let 
us  now  write  down  the  passage,  without  the  supplied 
words  ;  "  For  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment- 
seat  of  Christ  'y  that  every  one  may  receive  the  things 
in  body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether  good 
or  bad."  This  is  the  pure  text ;  and  who  would  think 
of  inferring  the  doctrine  of  future  retribution  from  it  in 
this  form  ?  "  That  every  one  may  receive  the  things 
in  6ocfy,"  is  an  expression  which  would  not  convey  the 
idea,  that  they  were  to  receive  those  things  out  of  the 
body. 

If  what  we  have  here  said  is  disputed,  we  wish  some 
competent  person  to  take  the  verse,  as  it  stands  in  the 
Greek  Testament,  and  tell  us  whether  he  can  give  the 
words  iu  dia  TOV  (jw'juaro?  any  different  sense.  It  may 
also  be  remarked,  that  some  ancaent  copies  (as  Whitby 
and  many  other  commentators  tell  us)  read  T«  i'dia  TOV 
aw'^aro?,  the  proper  things  of  the  body,  or  things  proper 
to  the  body.  We  place  no  great  importance,  however, 
on  this  difference  in  the  reading. 

"  For  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment- seat 
of  Christ,"  is  a  figurative  expression,  taken  from  courts 
of  justice.  It  signifies,  that  we  are  judged  by  Christ's 
laws.  At  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  nation,  there 
was  a  general  judgment  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 


1 88  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

There  was  a  time  of  extraordinary  trouble  and  sorrow, 
such  as  there  never  had  been  before.  In  the  strong, 
metaphorical  language  of  the  Bible,  all  nations  were 
said  to  be  gathered  before  Christ,  and  to  receive  sen- 
tence according  to  their  works.  (Matt.  xxv.  31,32.)  But 
in  describing  these  things  as  they  should  transpire,  Jesus 
was  very  particular  to  add,  u  Verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
this  generation  shall  not  pass  till  all  these  things  be  ful- 
filled." Matt,  xxiii.  36  ;  xxiv.  34.  Compare  Matt. 
xxv.  31,  with  xvi.  27,  28. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  Greek  verb  which  is 
rendered  must  appear  in  2  Cor.  v.  10,  is,  in  the  next 
verse,  rendered  are  made  manifest.  And  after  the 
apostle  had  told  his*  brethren  they  must  appear,  or  be 
made  manifest,  at  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  he  adds, 
u  We  are  made  manifest  unto  God,  and  I  trust  also  are 
made  manifest  in  your  consciences."  The  apostle 
stood  before  God  at  that  time  approved,  and  he  also 
stood  before  the  consciences  of  the  Corinthians  ap- 
proved. There  is  not  the  least  hint  given  in  the  pas- 
sage, that  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ  is  in  the  eternal 
world.  The  throne  of  his  glory  was  his  judgment-seat. 
He  came  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  with  power  and  great 
glory,  before  the  generation  fully  passed  away  to  whom 
he  preached  while  on  the  earth. 

In  regard  to  the  eleventh  verse,  "  Knowing  the  terror 
of  the  Lord,  we  persuade  men,"  lest  some  might  think 
this  indicative  of  endless  torment,  we  give  the  note  of 
Dr.  A.  Clarke  on  that  sentence. 

"  This  I  think  is  too  harsh  a  translation  of  the  text, 
which  should  be  rendered,  knowing,  therefore,  the  fear 
of  the  Lord  ;  which,  strange  as  it  may  at  first  appear, 
often  signifies  the  worship  of  the  Lord,  or  that  religious 
reverence  which  we  owe  to  him.  The  fear  of  God  is 
the  beginning  of  wisdom  ;  the  terror  of  God  confounds 
and  overpowers  the  soul.  We  lead  men  to  God 
through  fear  and  love  ;  and  with  the  fear  of  God,  the 
love  of  God  is  ever  consistent ;  but  where  the  terror 
of  the  Lord  reigns,  there  can  be  neither  fear,  faith,  nor 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          189 

love  ;  nay,  nor  hope  either.  Men,  who  vindicate  their 
constant  declamations  on  hell  and  perdition,  by  quoting 
this  text,  know  little  of  its  meaning  ;  and,  what  is 
worse,  seem  to  know  but  little  of  the  nature  of  man, 
and  perhaps  less  of  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

See  a  most  excellent  sermon  on  2  Cor.  v.  10,  in  the 
volume  entitled  "  Ballou's  Nine  Sermons." 

LXXII.     Gal.  v.  19-21.     Eph.  v.  5. 

These  passages  are  explained  precisely  in  the  same 
way  as  we  have  explained  1  Cor.  vi.  9,  and  to  save 
room,  we  refer  to  what  has  been  said  on  that  text,  Sec- 
tion LXVIII.  of  this  chapter. 

LXXIII.  "  And  to  you  who  are  troubled,  rest  with  us,  when  the 
Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty  angels,  in 
flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God,  and  obey 
not  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ:  who  shall  be  punished 
with  everlasting  destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Loid,  and  from 
the  glory  of  his  power ;  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his 
saints,  and  to  be  admired  in  all  them  that  believe  (because  bur  testi- 
mony among  you  was  believed)  in  that  day."  2  Thess.  i.  7  -10. 

1 .  Who  were  those  that  troubled  the  Thessalonians  ? 
Answer,  the  Jews.      See  Acts  xvii.  5—7.      See  also  1 
Thess.  ii.  15,  where  Paul,  speaking  of  the  Jews  who 
had  persecuted  the  Thessalonians,  says,   u  Who  both 
killed  the  Lord  Jesus,   and   their  own   prophets,  and 
have  persecuted  ws."     In  almost  all  the  heathen  cities, 
the  Jews  were  the  ringleaders  in  carrying  on   persecu- 
tions against  the  Christians. 

2.  When  was  the  Lord  Jesus  revealed  from  heaven  in 
flaming  fire,  with  his  mighty  angels  ?    See  Matt.  xvi.  27, 
28.     "  For  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of 
his  power  with  his  angels  ;  and  then  he  shall  reward 
every  man  according  to  his  works."    When  was  this  to 
be  ?    "  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  there  be  some  standing 
here,  which  shall  not  taste  of  death,  till  they  see  the  Son 
of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom."  Is  it  not  evident  from 
this,  that  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man,  with  his  an- 
gels, took  place  during  the  natural  lives  of  some    of 
the  generation  then  on  the  earth  ?     See  Mark  viii.  38  ; 


190  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

ix.  1  ;  Luke  ix.  26,  27.  See  also  our  remarks  on 
Matt.  xxv.  46,  in  Section  XXIX.  of  this  chapter.  Je- 
sus is  said  to  come  in  flaming  fire,  because  he  came 
to  "  execute  judgment."  Fire  is  one  of  the  most 
common  emblems  employed  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  to 
represent  divine  judgments.  See  Numb.  xxi.  28.  Com- 
pare Jer.  xlviii.  45  ;  Psalms  Ixvi.  12  ;  Ixxxiii.  14  ; 
xcvii.  3;  Isa.  ix.  19;  xlvii.  14  ;  Ixvi.  15,  16  ;  Jer. 
iv.  4  ;  xxi.  12  ;  Lam.  ii.  3,  4  ;  Ezek.  xxi.  31  ;  xxii. 
18-22.  Let  the  reader  consult  these  passages,  and 
he  will  see  how  common  a  custom  it  was  for  the  sacred 
writers  to  represent  divine  judgments  under  the  figure 
of  fire.  Hence  we  have  the  "  furnace  of  fire,"  — the 
"  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,"  —  the  "worm  that  dieth 
not,  and  the  fire  that  is  not  quenched," — the  "flaming 
flame,"  —  the  "  unquenchable  fire,"  —  "  the  smoke  of 
their  torment,"  &c.  £c.,  all  which  are  figures  employed 
to  represent  temporal  judgments.  Nothing  can  be  more 
certain  than  the  fact  which  we  now  advance.  Let  us 
inquire,  then,  — 

3.  Was  the  Lord  Jesus  revealed  from  heaven  in  that 
generation,  to  take  vengeance  on  them  that  knew  not 
God,  and  obeyed  not  the  Gospel  ?  We  answer  in  the 
affirmative  ;  and  our  proposition  is  susceptible  of  the 
clearest  proof.  To  the  law  and  the  testimony.  "  And 
then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven 
[to  denote  that  he  was  coming]  :  and  then  shall  all  the 
tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they  shall  see  the  Son 
of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and 
great  glory."  Matt.  xxiv.  30.  This  was  the  revelation 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  from  heaven  ;  and  we  are  informed, 
in  the  34th  verse,  "verily  I  say  unto  you,  this  genera- 
tion shall  not  pass,  till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled."  See 
also  Luke  xvii.  30,  31,  "  Even  thus  shall  it  be  in  the 
day  when  the  Son  of  man  is  revealed.  In  that  day,  he 
which  shall  be  upon  the  house-top,  and  his  stuff  in  the 
house,  let  him  not  come  down  to  take  it  away  ;  and  he 
that  is  in  the  field,  let  him  likewise  not  return  back  ;" 
showing  clearly,  as  we  should  think,  that  the  revelation 
of  the  Son  of  man  was  at  the  time  of  the  dissolution 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          191 

of  the  Jewish  state.  Compare  Matt.  xxiv.  16-18,  and 
34  ;  Rom.  ii.  5  ;  1  Peter  i.  13  ;  iv.  13.  Did  Jesus 
come  in  that  generation  to  take  vengeance  on  such  as 
obeyed  not  the  Gospel  ?  In  describing  the  destruction 
of  the  Jewish  state,  the  Saviour  said,  these  be  the  days 
of  vengeance,  that  all  things  which  are  written  may  be 
fulfilled,"  Luke  xxi.  22,  compare  xviii.  7,  8.  It  is 
there  fully  proved,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  was  revealed 
from  heaven,  before  the  generation  which  was  on  the 
earth  at  the  time  of  his  ministry  had  fully  passed  away, 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  op- 
posed the  Gospel,  and  persecuted  the  Christian  church. 
4.  Let  us  look  at  another  particular.  They  were 
punished  with  everlasting  destruction  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord.  It  is  thought  by  those  who  are  but  little 
acquainted  with  scriptural  phraseology,  that  these  words 
must  of  course  be  applied  to  the  future  state  ;  and  that 
they  denote,  that  after  the  persons  spoken  of  are  adjudg- 
ed to  merit  endless  pains,  they  shall  be  driven  out  from 
the  immediate  presence  of  God  in  heaven,  and  sent  to 
the  regions  of  despair.  But  a  careful  study  of  the 
Scriptures  will  show,  that  God's  presence  was  said  to 
dwell  on  the  earth,  in  places  where  his  worship  was  es- 
tablished, or  from  which  his  laws  went  forth,  or  where 
his  people  had  lived  in  intimate  communion  with  him. 
Thus  we  read,  "  And  Cain  went  out  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord,  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod,  on  the  east 
of  Eden."  Gen.  iv.  16.  This,  of  course,  had  no  ref- 
erence to  the  future  state.  So  God  promised  his  pres- 
ence to  his  people  on  their  journey  through  the  wilder- 
ness. "  And  he  said,  my  presence  shall  go  with  thee, 
and  I  will  give  thee  rest.  And  he  said  unto  him,  if  thy 
presence  go  not  with  me,  carry  us  not  up  hence.  For 
wherein  shall  it  be  known  here,  that  I  and  thy  people 
have  found  grace  in  thy  sight  ?  Is  it  not  in  that  thou 
goest  with  ws?"  Exodus  xxxiii.  14-17.  We  read, 
also,  that  "  Jonah  rose  up  to  flee  unto  Tarshish  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  went  down  to  Joppa." 
Jonah  i.  3.  When  the  Jews  were  given  up  of  God, 


192  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

and  were  permitted  to  be  carried  away  captive  by  Neb- 
uchadnezzar, king  of  Babylon,  we  read,  that  God  '•'  cast 
them  out  from  his  presence,"  2  Kings  xxiv.  20.  That 
is,  they  were  driven  out  from  their  own  land,  —  they 
were  driven  away  from  their  religious  privileges,  — 
they  were  driven  away  from  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
and  from  the  place  where  he  had  revealed  his  power 
and  glory  ;  and  their  sanctuary  and  their  dwellings  were 
burned.  This  was  called,  "  casting  them  out  from 
God's  presence."  After  they  had  returned  from  the 
captivity  in  Babylon,  they  built  again  the  temple,  and 
established  worship  on  Zion,  and  God  once  more  vouch- 
safed his  presence  there.  But  alas,  God's  people  were 
a  rebellious  people.  They  not  only  persecuted  the 
prophets,  but  also  the  apostles,  and  crucified  the  Lord 
of  glory.  God  permitted  them  again  to  be  driven  away 
from  their  own  land,  by  the  Romans  under  Titus  ;  and 
this  punishment,  in  imitation  of  the  language  of  the  Old 
Testament,  was  called  ''everlasting  destruction  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord."  If,  then,  we  apply  the 
words  before  us,  to  the  banishment  of  the  Jews  from 
their  own  land,  we  adopt  the  precise  sense  in  which  the 
Old  Testament  writers  were  accustomed  to  use  such 
language.  By  what  rule,  then,  can  2  Thess.  i.  7-9,  be 
applied  to  the  future  state  ? 

5.  But  it  will  be  said,  in  the  last  place,  that  this 
punishment  of  the  Jews  must  be  in  the  future  state,  be- 
cause it  is  said  to  be  everlasting.  We  reply,  that  so 
far  from  this  being  an  objection  to  the  view  we  have  here 
given,  it  is,  in  fact,  a  confirmation  of  it.  It  shows  how 
closely  Paul  followed  the  prophetic  language  in  describ- 
ing the  punishment  of  the  Jews.  See  the  following  : 
"  Therefore,  behold  I,  even  I,  will  utterly  forget  you, 
and  I  will  forsake  you,  and  the  city  that  I  gave  you, 
and  your  fathers,  and  CAST  YOU  OUT  OF  MY  PRESENCE  ; 
and  I  will  bring  an  EVERLASTING  reproach  upon  you, 
and  a  PERPETUAL  shame,  which  shall  not  be  forgot- 
ten." Jer.  xxiii.  39,  40.  Now  we  see  where  Paul 
found  the  phraseology  he  employed  in  the  passage.  He 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          193 

borrowed  from  the  Jewish  prophets  not  only  the  figure 
of  destroying  the  Jews  from  "the  presence  of  the 
Lord,"  but  also  the  term  everlasting,  which  he  applied 
to  that  destruction,  and  which  they  had  applied  in  the 
same  manner. 

The  Jews  were  said  to  have  the  land  of  Canaan  for 
an  everlasting  possession,  Gen.  xvii.  8  ;  xlviii.  4.  The 
hills  were  said  to  be  everlasting ,  Gen.  xlix.  26.  The 
priesthood  of  Aaron  was  said  to  be  everlasting,  Exod. 
xl.  15  ;  Numb.  xxv.  13.  The  Jewish  statutes  were 
termed  everlasting,  Lev.  xvi.  34.  The  mountains  were 
called  everlasting  mountains,  Hab.  iii.  6.  If  the  word 
everlasting  must  refer  to  things  of  eternity  alone,  we 
would  be  glad  to  see  how  the  above  facts  can  be  ac- 
counted for.  Again,  if  the  term  everlasting  shows  that 
the  matter  to  which  it  is  applied,  must  be  strictly  end- 
less, then  how  shall  we  account  for  the  following  facts  : 
These  everlasting  mountains  were  scattered,  and  these 
perpetual  hills  did  bow,  Hab.  iii.  6.  The  Jews  were 
long  since  driven  out  of  Canaan,  their  everlasting  pos- 
session ;  the  everlasting  priesthood  of  Aaron  was  abol- 
ished, and  the  priesthood  of  Christ  established  in  its 
stead  ;  and  the  everlasting  statutes  were  long  since  set 
aside.  These  things  were  everlasting,  in  the  usual  Jew- 
ish sense  of  that  term  ;  but  none  of  them  were  endless 
in  duration  ;  nor  can  any  thing  mentioned  in  Scripture 
be  proved  to  be  endless,  by  the  mere  use  of  the  term 
everlasting. 

It  has  been  objected,  to  the  view  we  have  taken  of 
this  subject,  that  Paul's  epistle  was  addressed  to  the 
church  at  Thessalonica  ;  and  what  had  that  church  to 
do  with  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  from  which  they 
were  far  distant  ?  Why  should  the  destruction  of  the 
Jews,  relieve  the  Thessalonians  from  the  persecutions 
they  suffered  ?  We  reply,  that  not  only  in  the  case  of 
the  Thessalonians,  but  in  almost  every  place  in  which 
persecution  raged  against  the  infant  church,  the  Jews 
were  the  instigators  and  abettors.  This  will  appear  by 
a  brief  examination  of  the  early  history  of  the  church, 
17 


194  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

as  recorded  in  the  book  of  Acts.  We  have  not  room 
here  to  quote  all  the  passages  that  refer  to  that  point ; 
but  we  direct  the  reader's  attention  to  Actsxiii.  44,  45, 
49,  50  ;  xiv.  2,  19  ;  xvii.  5,  11  - 13  ;  xviii.  12,  13  ; 
xix.  33. 

For  a  more  full  explanation  of  this  passage,  see  the 
very  excellent  article  of  Mr.  Balfour,  in  the  "•  Uni- 
versalist  Magazine,"  Vol.  V.  pp.  157,  161,  165,  169. 
Also  Mr.  Balfour's  "  Second  Inquiry,"  pp.  326-337. 
Mr.  Balfour's  argument  is  absolutely  incontrovertible. 
See  also  Rev.  H.  Ballou's  sermon  on  the  passage 
which  gave  occasion  to  his  noted  controversy  with 
Rev.  Timothy  Merritt.  See  also  the  note  from  Ham- 
mond, in  Paige's  "  Selections." 

LXXIV.  "  And  for  this  cause  God  shall  send  them  strong  delu- 
sion, that  they  should  believe  a  lie  ;  that  they  all  might  be  damned 
who  believed  not  the  truth,  but  had  pleasure  in  unrighteousness." 
SThess.  ii.  11,12. 

We  shall  not  undertake  the  explanation  of  this  pas- 
sage any  further  than  to  show,  that  it  affords  no  proof 
of  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery.  Those  who  desire  a 
fuller  explanation,  are  referred  to  Paige's  u  Selections" 
on  the  passage,  and  Ballou's  u  Select  Sermons,"  No. 
VIII. 

u  That  they  all  might  be  damned  who  believed  not 
the  truth."  Does  the  apostle  give  the  slightest  hint, 
that  this  damnation  must  be  endured  in  the  future  im- 
mortal existence  ?  Not  at  all.  Adam  Clarke  renders 
the  passage,  "  that  they  may  all  be  condemned  who  be- 
lieved not  the  truth."  Who  would  have  supposed  the 
apostle  to  refer  to  the  immortal  state,  if  the  word  con- 
demned had  been  used  in  the  common  translation  ? 
See  remarks  on  1  Cor.  xi.  29,  Sect.  LXIX.  of  this 
chapter.  Mr.  Balfour,  whose  valuable  works  have  con- 
tributed so  much  to  the  stock  of  Biblical  criticism, 
says,  on  this  text ;  "  The  words  damned  and  damna- 
tion have  a  most  terrific  sound  in  most  people's  ears, 
and  instantly  lead  their  minds  into  a  future  state  of  ex- 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  195 

istence.  But  the  same  word  is  rendered  condemn, 
judge,  and  in  a  variety  of  other  ways  in  our  common 
version.  Is  it  asked,  What  damnation  does  the  apostle 
refer  to  ?  I  answer  ;  the  condemnation  which  is  the  ef- 
fect of  unbelief,  and  the  punishment  which  is  called  the 
wrath  of  God  (Matt.  iii.  7),  and  the  damnation  of  hell 
(Matt,  xxiii.  33).  Strong  delusion  came  on  the  unbe- 
lieving Jews  ;  they  believed  a  lie,  and  were  all  damned 
or  punished,  for  the  wrath  of  God  came  upon  them  to 
the  uttermost."  "  Essays,"  p.  248.  Mr.  Ballou  says  ; 
"  This  damnation  must  exist  where  and  when  the  de- 
lusion exists,  for  it  depends  upon  it.  We  have  no- 
ticed, that  the  words  damned,  condemned,  &c.,  have 
been  applied  to  a  future,  eternal  state  ;  but  Jesus  him- 
self speaks  as  follows  ;  l  For  God  sent  not  his  Son 
into  the  world  to  condemn  the  world,  but  that  the  world 
through  him  might  be  saved.  He  that  believeth  on 
him  is  not  condemned  ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  is 
condemned  already  ;  because  he  hath  not  believed  in 
the  name  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God.  And  this 
is  the  condemnation,  that  light  is  come  into  the  world, 
and  men  loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their 
deeds  are  evil.'  St.  Paul  speaks  to  Timothy  of  some 
as  '  having  damnation,'  in  the  present  tense.  To  the 
Romans,  he  says,  '  He  that  doubteth  is  damned  if  he 
eat."  St.  Peter  speaks  of  some,  *  whose  judgment 
now  of  a  long  time  lingereth  not,  and  their  damnation 
slumbereth  not.'  All  this  is  in  this  world,  where  unbe- 
lief and  sin  are,  and  where  their  consequences  are." 
"Select  Sermons,"  p.  115. 

LXX  V.  "  How  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ?  " 
Heb.  ii.  3. 

That  this  passage  does  not  prove  any  thing  against  the 
final  salvation  of  all  men  ;  or,  in  other  words,  does  not 
prove  that  God's  will  in  the  salvation  of  all  men  will 
not  be  accomplished,  may  be  understood  by  many  con- 
siderations, especially  by  its  connexion.  See  the  con- 
text with  the  text  ;  "  For  if  the  word  spoken  by  an- 
gels was  steadfast,  and  every  transgression  and  disobe- 


196  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

dience   received  a  just  recompense  of  reward  ;    how 
shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation." 

Now,  the  plain  sense  of  this  passage  is  this  ;  If  under 
the  law,  those  transgressions  by  which  the  people  vio- 
lated the  commandments  of  God  were  justly  punished, 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  we,  if  we  neglect  obe- 
dience to  the  gospel,  shall  by  no  means  escape  the  due 
reward  of  our  infidelity  and  disobedience.  But  as  there 
are  no  intimations  in  the  law  of  Moses,  that  those  who 
transgressed  would  be  punished  in  a  future  state,  so, 
from  the  analogy  to  which  the  apostle  alludes,  there  is 
no  argument  to  prove  that  those  who  neglect  the  gospel 
in  the  present  time,  will  suffer  for  so  doing  in  a  future 
world.  If  it  can  be  made  to  appear,  that  either  Moses 
or  any  of  the  prophets  spake  of  the  punishment  of  sin 
in  a  future  world,  we  shall  not  attempt  to  disprove  such 
punishment  by  the  New  Testament.  Jesus  says, 
"  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  and  the 
prophets  ;  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil." 
The  Saviour  renders  no  part  of  the  law  null,  nor  does 
he  denounce  any  threatenings  against  sin,  which  are  not 
contained  in  the  divine  law. 

LXXVI.  "  Of  the  doctrine  of  baptisms,  and  of  laying  on  of  hands, 
and  of  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  of  eternal  judgment."  Heb. 
vi.  2. 

After  noticing  the  expression,  eternal  judgment, 
Peirce  remarks  ;  u  The  common  interpretation  makes 
this  to  refer  to  the  final  judgment."  He  then  adds  ; 
"  I  think  that  the  words  are  to  be  understood  in  a  very 
different  manner,  and  xqipa  here  seems  to  me  to  be  put 
for  temporal  judgments.  Thus  the  word  is  used,  1  Pe- 
ter iv.  17  ;  c  The  time  is  come  that  judgment  must  begin 
at  the  house  of  God  ; '  where  the  context  will  not  suffer 
us  to  take  it  in  any  other  sense  ;  compare  ver.  16,  18, 
19.  So  again,  1  Cor.  xi.  29  ;  i  He  that  eateth  and 
drinketh  unworthily,  eateth  and  drinketh  judgment  to 
himself,  not  discerning  the  Lord's  body.'  What  this 
judgment  was,  appears  by  the  next  verse  ;  '/or  this 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  1 97 

cause,  many  are  weak  and  sickly  among  you,  and  many 
sleep.'  See  also  verse  34.  The  word  ai<avio$,  which 
we  have  rendered  eternal,  I  take,  to  respect  not  the 
time  to  come,  but  the  time  past,  and  to  signify  ancient, 
or  past  long  ago.  That  the  word  is  thus  used  without 
any  respect  to  eternity,  we  may  see,  Rom.  xvi.  25  ;  2 
Tim.  i.  9  ;  Titus  i.  2.  See  also  these  places  in  the 
LXX.,  Psalm  Ixxvii.  5  ;  Prov.  xxii.  28  ;  Jer.  xviii. 
15  ;  Ezek.  xxxvi.  2.  According  to  this  account  of 
the  words,  we  may  consider  the  Jewish  religion  as  es- 
tablished by  the  ancient  and  tremendous  judgments,  of 
the  execution  of  which,  the  books  of  Moses  give  an 
account  ;  such  as  the  deluge,  the  destruction  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah,  and  more  especially,  the  drowning  of 
Pharaoh  and  his  host  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  perhaps  the 
judgments  of  God  upon  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness 
for  their  impenitence  and  unbelief.  Of  this  last  he  had 
indeed  treated  before,  but  not  as  a  foundation  of  the 
Jewish  religion,  but  as  an  example  by  which  Christians 
might  be  warned."  * 

LXXVIl.  "  For  it  is  impossible  for  those  who  were  once  enlight- 
ened, and  have  tasted  of  the  heavenly  gift,  and  were  made  partakers 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  have  tasted  the  good  word  of  God,  and  the 
powers  of  the  world  to  come,  if  they  shall  fall  away,  to  renew  them 
again  unto  repentance ;  seeing  they  crucify  to  themselves  the  Son 
of  God  afresh,  and  put  him  to  an  open  shame."  Heb.  vi.  4-6. 

We  avail  ourselves  in  part  of  the  thoughts  of  a 
friend  on  this  passage,  published  several  years  since. 

We  will  now  seek  the  true  meaning  of  the  text, 
which  may  be  discovered  by  the  smallest  capacity,  un- 
biased by  the  prejudices  of  education.  And  it  appears 
manifest  that  the  text  must  mean  either,  1st.  That  God 
himself  cannot  possibly  renew  those  "  who  were  once 
enlightened,"  &c.,  to  repentance  ;  or,  2nd.  That  they 
themselves  cannot  repent,  or,  3d.  That  the  apostle 


*  See  rt  Paraphrase  and  Notes  on  the  Epistles,"  &c.,  by  the  late 
Reverend  and  learned  Mr.  Jas.  Peirce,  of  Exon.     London.     1733. 

17* 


198  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

Paul)  by  his  labors  with  them,  could  not  possibly  renew 
them  to  repentance. 

1.  With  reference  to  the  first  position  we  think  it 
evident,  that  Paul  did  not  mean  that  the  Almighty  Ruler 
of  the  world  could  not  possibly  renew  them  to  repent- 
ance.    For  the  Scriptures  teach  that  all  things  are  pos- 
sible with  God.  —  Moreover,  his  supreme  power  is  un- 
disputed throughout  the  world.    And  all  parts  of  nature 
show  forth  the   infinity  and  omnipotence   of  Jehovah. 
We    cannot    think  there  will   be    controversy  on  this 
point  ;  but  that  all  will  admit  that  God   can  do  any 
thing  which  does  not  involve  in  itself  a  necessary  con- 
tradiction or  impossibility. 

2.  That  the  apostates  themselves  cannot  possibly 
repent. 

If  man  becomes  incapable  of  repentance,  he  will  be 
no  longer  a  moral  agent  ;  nor  will  he  be  under  any  ob- 
ligation to  do  that  which  he  cannot  do  ;  and  we  submit 
the  serious  question,  whether  it  would  not  be  more  con- 
sistent with  our  views  of  the  character  of  God,  to  sup- 
pose he  would  give  the  sinner  a  disposition  to  repent, 
rather  than  to  give  him  an  inability  to  repent  ?  Fur- 
ther, it  would  seem,  if  the  Divine  Being  became  satis- 
fied with  the  everlasting  existence  of  sin,  that  all 
good  beings  should  be  also  satisfied  with  it ;  and  re- 
pentance being  no  longer  the  object  of  any  good  desire, 
would  then  cease  to  be  a  virtue. 

3.  There  remains,  therefore,  but  the   last   position 
which  can  be  rationally  supported,"  and  which  is,  that 
Paul  only  meant,  that  it  was  impossible  for  him,  by  his 
preaching  to   apostate  Christians,  to  renew  them  again 
to    repentance.      This    pious    and    faithful    apostle  of 
Christianity  was  speaking  of  his  labors  and  ministry, 
and  those  who  might  espouse  his  doctrine  and  feel  the 
power  and  energy  of  Christ,  repent  and  live  in  obedi- 
ence to  those  divine  precepts  for  a  time,  but  fall  away 
and  thus  crucify  the  Son  of  God  afresh  and  put  him  to 
an  open  shame,  by  rejecting  the  cause  they  had  espous- 
ed and  loved.     The  apostle   seems   to  think,  that,  as 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          199 

he  had  preached  repentance  unto  them,  and  had  once 
been  instrumental  in  bringing  them  through  repentance 
to  the  love  and  enjoyment  of  the  Gospel,  and  as  they 
had  once  tasted  the  saving  bread  of  God,  and  the  pre- 
libations  of  a  glorious  immortality,  if  they  should  fall 
away,  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  add  any  thing 
to  what  he  had  already  said  to  them  on  the  subject,  or 
to  bring  them  back  again  to  the  faith  and  fellowship  of 
the  Gospel.  Hence,  he  opens  the  subject  in  these 
words,  u  therefore,  leaving  the  principles  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ,  let  us  go  on  unto  perfection,  not  laying 
again  the  foundation  of  repentance  from  dead  works 
and  of  faith  towards  God."  He  then  proceeds  to  give 
the  words  of  our  text  as  the  reason  why  he  would  go 
on,  and  not  lay  again  the  foundation  of  repentance,  be- 
cause it  was  impossible  (for  him  by  preaching)  to  renew 
them,  &c. 

It  was  impossible  for  him,  because  he  could  add 
nothing  to  what  they  already  knew  on  that  subject  ;  and 
now,  after  they  had  been  once  enlightened  into  the  di- 
vine and  glorious  principles  of  our  Saviour's  moral 
kingdom  ;  after  they  had  tasted  the  riches  of  a  Father's 
love,  and  had  sweetly  anticipated  the  incorruptible  joys 
of  his  glorious  kingdom,  if  they  would  now  turn  to  the 
beggarly  elements  of  the  world  and  renounce  these 
heavenly  hopes  and  joys  for  the  paltry  pleasures  and 
evanescent  follies  of  sin,  he  could  have  no  hope  to  re- 
claim them.  But  we  cannot  suppose  this  apostle 
meant,  that  the  Almighty  Sovereign  of  the  universe 
could  not  warm  their  hearts  and  bring  them  again  to 
"  look  on  him  they  pierced  and  mourn,"  for  he  has 
declared,  that  "  every  tongue  shall  confess  to  God," 
and  that  "  every  tongue  shall  confess  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father."  Let  this 
text,  then,  be  understood  in  accordance  with  reason, 
with  the  Scriptures  generally,  and  with  its  context  ; 
and  it  involves  no  absurdity,  but  clearly  corresponds 
with  the  adorable  character  of  our  heavenly  Father, 
and  all  his  merciful  designs  ;  with  all  the  vast  and  ar- 


200  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

dent  desires  of  Divine  humanity.  So  that,  notwith- 
standing this  text,  we  may  all  have  hope  in  God,  and  a 
triumphant  faith  in  the  final  renovation  of  the  moral 
universe,  and  the  purity,  glory,  and  immortality  of  the 
intelligent  creation.  Amen. 

LXXVIII.  "  And  as  it  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  and 
after  this  the  judgment, "  Heb.  ix.  27. 

The  correct  view  of  this  passage,  which  we  have 
here  partly  quoted,  is  given,  as  we  view  it,  in  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  a  pamphlet  published  many  years 
since,  by  Rev.  David  Pickering,  then  of  Hudson, 
New  York. 

"  The  other  passage  which  was  quoted  for  the  same 
purpose,  is  recorded  in  Heb.  ix.  27.  4  And  as  it  is 
appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after  this  the 

judgment, "  The  hearer  will  readily  discover 

that  something  is  wanting  in  this  sentence  to  complete 
the  sense,  —  and  as  this  is  supplied  in  the  next  words 
of  the  apostle,  we  will  read  the  whole  in  connexion. 
c  And  AS  it  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after 
this  the  judgment  :  so  Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear 
the  sins  of  many  ;  and  unto  them  that  look  for  him 
shall  he  appear  the  second  time  without  sin  unto  salva- 
tion.' 

"  Now  be  careful  to  observe,  that  as  it  was  appointed 
unto  men  once  to  die,  and  after  this  the  judgment,  so, 
that  is,  in  like  manner ,  Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear 
the  sins  of  many  ;  or  of  the  multitudes.  How  was 
Christ  once  offered  9  Answer,  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin. 
By  whom  was  he  offered  ?  Answer,  he  offered  himself; 
because  he  was  the  High  Priest  of  a  better  testament 
than  that  which  preceded  it.  See  verses  11,  14.  15. 
The  way  is  now  open  for  an  easy  and  consistent  expla- 
nation of  this  text.  The  apostle  has  devoted  four 
chapters  of  this  epistle  to  a  comparison  of  the  priest- 
hood of  Aaron;  and  that  of  Christ ;  beginning  with 
the  seventh,  and  closing  with  the  tenth.  In  the  chapter, 
of  which  the  words  under  consideration  are  a  part,  he 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          201 

treats  the  priesthood  of  Aaron  and  its  ceremonies,  as  a 
shadow  of  the  priesthood  of  Christ ;  and  informs  us, 
that  the  Jewish  high  priest  went  alone  once  every  year 
into  the  second  tabernacle,  but  not  ivithout  blood,  which 
he  offered  for  himself,  and  for  the  errors  of  the  people. 
This,  he  tells  us,  was  a  figure,  and  that  the  gifts  and 
sacrifices  that  were  thus  offered,  could  not  render  him 
perfect  who  performed  the  service.  Verses  7,9.  For, 
saith  he,  it  is  not  possible,  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of 
goats  should  take  away  sins.  Chap.  x.  4. 

"  Let  it  be  distinctly  understood,  that  the  high  priest 
offered  the  blood  (which  is  the  life)  of  the  sacrifices,  by 
which  himself  and  the  whole  house  of  Israel  were  cer- 
emonially purified.  By  ceremonial  purification,  I 
mean  to  be  understood,  that  God  was  pleased,  through 
the  offering  of  the  sacrifice,  to  accept  both  the  high 
priest  and  all  the  people.  i  Without  shedding  of  blood, 
is  no  remission.'  Verse  22.  Hence,  the  high  priest 
under  the  law,  is  represented  as  being  slain,  that  is,  (by 
proxy)  in  those  sacrifices  that  were  offered.  After 
being  thus  slain,  the  high  priest  entered  into  the  holy 
place  beyond  the  veil,  and  presented  his  offering  before 
the  mercy-seat,  while  all  the  congregation  of  Israel 
were  anxiously  waiting  without,  for  the  token  of  their 
acceptance  with  God. 

"  When  they  heard  the  sound  of  the  golden  bells, 
that  were  attached  to  the  garment  of  the  high  priest, 
the  whole  multitude  shouted  aloud  for  joy,  knowing  that 
this  was  the  signal  of  the  acceptance  of  their  high  priest, 
and  with  him,  all  the  congregation,  whom  he  represent- 
ed. This,  the  apostle  considers,  as  a  figure  of  the 
sacrifices  and  priesthood  of  Christ ;  and,  therefore,  uses 
the  following  language:  Verses  24-28.  " Christ  is 
not  entered  into  the  holy  places  made  with  hands, 
which  are  the  figures  of  the  true  ;  but  into  heaven  it- 
self, now  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us  :  nor 
yet  that  he  should  offer  himself  often,  as  the  high  priest 
entereth  into  the  holy  place  once  a  year  with  blood  of 
others  ;  for  then  must  he  often  have  suffered  since  the 


202  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

foundation  of  the  world  :  but  now  once  in  the  end  of 
the  world  hath  he  appeared  to  put  away  sin  by  the  sac- 
rifice of  himself ;  and  as  it  is  appointed  unto  men 
(priests  under  the  law)  once  to  die,  (in  the  sacrifice  as 
before  explained)  and  after  this  the  judgment :  (in 
which  the  high  priest  was  accepted,  and  himself  and  all 
the  multitudes  of  the  house  of  Israel  were  acquitted 
and  obtained  ceremonial  justification:) — so  (in  like 
manner,  as  the  priests  under  the  first  testament  were 
appointed  to  die)  Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear  the 
sins  of  many.'  Now,  as  the  judgment  which  decided 
the  temporal  destiny  of  the  Israelites  under  the  first  tes- 
tament took  place  when  the  high  priest  entered  into  the 
holy  place,  so  the  judgment  which  decided  the  spiritual 
and  endless  destiny  of  the  human  race,  took  place  when 
Christ  entered  into  heaven  itself,  with  the  blood  or  spirit 
of  the  everlasting  covenant,  and  '  obtained  eternal  re- 
demption for  us.'  Chap.  ix.  12. 

"  The  difference  between  these  priesthoods  appears 
to  be  this  :  The  first  was  temporal,  the  second  was 
spiritual.  The  high  priest  of  the  first  covenant  could 
not  offer  himself  as  a  sacrifice,  and  was,  therefore,  ne- 
cessitated to  seek  a  substitute,  which  was  in  those 
beasts  that  were  slain  for  the  service  of  the  temple. 
But  in  Christ  we  find  both  the  offering  and  the  Priest. 
It  was  he  that  entered  through  the  veil,  to  appear  in  the 
presence  of  God  for  us  ;  and  was  accepted  in  that  he 
offered. 

<c  Christ,  therefore,  being  accepted  with  the  Father, 
all  the  human  family  were  accepted  in  him.  That  no 
doubt  may  be  entertained  that  this  offering  was  of  uni- 
versal application,  the  apostles  assure  us,  that  Jesus 
Christ  by  the  grace  of  God  tasted  death  for  every  man, 
—  that  he  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all,  to  be  testified 
in  due  time,  —  that  he  is  the  propitiation  for  the  sins  of 
the  whole  world.  See  chap.  ii.  9  ;  1  Tim.  ii.  6  ;  1  John 
ii.  2." 

"  After  this  the  judgment."  That  is,  after  the  figu- 
rative death  of  the  high  priest  came  the  judgment. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          203 

Hence  we  read  of  Aaron,  the  first  high  priest,  "  and 
thou  shalt  put  in  the  breast-plate  of  JUDGMENT,  the 
Urim  and  the  Thummim  ;  and  they  shall  be  upon 
Aaron's  heart,  when  he  goeth  in  before  the  Lord  ;  and 
Aaron  shall  bear  THE  JUDGMENT  of  the  children  of 
Israel  upon  his  heart  before  the  Lord  continually." 
This  judgment  came  after  the  figurative  death  of  the 
high  priest ;  and  hence  it  is  said,  u  As  it  is  appointed 
unto  men  (the  men,  it  should  be  translated,)  once  to 
die,  and  after  this  THE  JUDGMENT,  so  Christ  was  once 
offered,"  &c. 

See  Ballou's  "  Select  Sermons,"  No.  I.  and  also 
an  article  in  the  "  Universalist  Expositor,"  Vol.  II. 
pp.  58-65. 

LXXIX.  "  For  if  we  sin  wilfully  after  that  we  have  received  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins, 
but  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and  fiery  indignation, 
which  shall  devour  the  adversaries.  He  that  despised  Moses'  law 
died  without  mercy  under  two  or  three  witnesses;  of  ho'w  much 
sorer  punishment,  suppose  ye,  shall  he  be  thought  worthy,  who  hath 
trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  and  hath  counted  the  blood  of 
the  covenant,  wherewith  he  was  sanctified,  an  unholy  thing,  and 
hath  done  despite  unto  the  Spirit  of  grace  ?  For  we  know  him  that 
hath  said,  Vengeance  belongeth  unto  me,  I  will  recompense,  saith 
the  Lord.  And  again,  The  Lord  shall  judge  his  people.  It  is  a  fear- 
ful thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God."  Heb.  x.  26  -  31. 

V.  26.  "For  if  we  sin  wilfully,"  &c.  The  sinning 
wilfully,  here  means,  as  we  apprehend,  renouncing  the 
religion  of  Christ.  The  writer  of  the  epistle  had  ex- 
horted the  Hebrews,  ver.  23,  to  "  hold  fast  the  profes- 
sion of  their  faith  without  wavering,"  because  God 
was  faithful.  He  tells  them  not  to  forsake  the  assem- 
bling of  themselves  together,  ver.  25,  but  to  exhort 
one  another,  especially,  as  they  saw  the  day  approach- 
ing, that  is,  the  day  in  which  God  was  about  to  visit  the 
Jews  for  their  sins.  He  then,  with  the  same  sub- 
ject in  his  mind,  says,  "For  if  we  sin  wilfully  after 
that  we  have  received  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,"  that 
is,  if  we  abandon  our  profession  after  we  have  once  been 


204  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

made  acquainted  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel, 
u  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sin."  The 
Jewish  sacrifices  were  done  away  in  Christ,  as  the 
apostle  had  argued  in  the  former  part  of  this  epistle. 
Hence,  in  order  to  deter  them  who  put  a  value  on  sac- 
rifices from  forsaking  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  he  tells 
them  there  remained  no  other ;  and  if  they  abandoned 
this,  there  ftmained  no  sacrifice  at  all.  They  might, 
indeed,  again  embrace  the  Christian  sacrifice  ;  but,  when 
they  rejected  that,  u  there  remained  no  more  sacrifice 
for  sins." 

V.  27.  "  But  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of 
judgment."  As  the  Jews  under  the  law,  if  they 
neglected  the  regular  sacrifices,  were  exposed  to  the 
judgment  of  God,  so  in  this  case,  if  they  rejected  the 
Christian  sacrifices,  as  there  was  no  other,  there  re- 
mained to  them  nothing  but  a  dreadful  expectation  of 
judgment,  and  fiery  indignation.  This  judgment  and 
fiery  indignation  fell  upon  them,  in  the  destruction  of 
their  city  and  nation,  shortly  after.  In  order  to  show 
the  justice  of  punishing  those  who  rejected  the  Gospel, 
the  apostle  refers  to  the  punishment  inflicted  on  those 
who  contemned  the  law  of  Moses.  See  next  verse. 

V.  28.  "  He  that  despised  Moses'  law  died  without 
mercy,"  &c.  That  is,  judicial  mercy,  or  extenuation 
or  mitigation  of  punishment,  on  the  testimony  of  two 
or  three  witnesses.  Thus  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram 
died.  Num.  xv.  30.  See  also  Deut.  xvii.  6. 

V.  29.  "  Of  how  much  sorer  punishment  shall  he  be 
thought  worthy,  who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of 
God,"  &c.  The  argument  here  is,  if  men  were  pun- 
ished with  death  for  despising  the  law  of  Moses,  how 
much  more  severe  must  be  their  punishment,  who  wil- 
fully reject  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  The  punishment 
of  those  Jews  who  rejected  the  Gospel,  in  which  apos- 
tates were  also  involved,  was  more  dreadful  by  far  than 
any  thing  that  had  ever  been  inflicted  on  that  nation  be- 
fore. It  seems  to  have  been  the  punishment  which 
was  inflicted  on  the  Jews  at  the  time  their  city  was  de- 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          205 

stroyed  to  which  the  apostle  here  referred.  And  was 
it  not  a  "  sorer  punishment'7  than  any  of  the  Jews  had 
ever  suffered,  for  despising  the  law  of  Moses  ?  Jesus 
described  it  so.  He  said,  in  view  of  the  approaching 
misery,  u  then  shall  be  a  time  of  trouble,  such  as  was 
not  since  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  this  time,  no 
nor  ever  shall  be.7'  That  it  was  more  severe  than 
mere  death  under  the  law  of  Moses,  is  apparent,  be- 
cause it, was  death  connected  with  the  most  cruel  tor- 
ture, death  by  pestilence,  death  by  starvation.  The 
punishment  of  the  Jews  was  so  dreadful  during  the 
siege  of  the  city  by  the  Romans,  that  they  sought  death 
as  a  refuge.  Josephus,  speaking  of  the  distress  of  the 
city,  and  of  the  multitudes  who  died  by  famine,  says, 
u  As  for  burying  them,  those  that  were  sick  themselves 
were  not  able  to  do  it,  and  those  that  were  hearty  and 
well  were  deterred  from  doing  it,  by  the  great  multitude 
of  those  dead  bodies,  and  by  the  uncertainty  there  was 
how  soon  they  should  die  themselves  ;  for  many  died 
as  they  were  burying  others,  and  many  went  to  their 
coffins  before  that  fatal  hour  was  come.  Nor  were  there 
any  lamentations  made  under  these  calamities,  nor  were 
heard  any  mournful  complaints  ;  but  the- famine  con- 
founded all  natural  passions  ;  for  those  who  were  just 
going  to  die  looked  upon  those  that  were  gone  to  their 
rest  before  them,  with  dry  eyes  and  open  mouth.  A 
deep  silence  also,  and  a  kind  of  deadly  night,  had  seized 
upon  the  city  ;  while  yet  the  robbers  were  still  more 
terrible  than  the  miseries  were  themselves  ;  for  they 
broke  open  those  houses  which  were  no  other  than 
graves  of  dead  bodies,  arid  plundered  them  of  what 
they  had,  and,  carrying  off  the  coverings  of  their  bodies, 
went  out  laughing,  and  tried  the  points  of  their  swords 
in  their  dead  bodies  ;  and,  in  order  to  prove  what  met- 
tle they  were  made  of,  they  thrust  some  of  those 
through  that  still  lay  alive  upon  the  ground  ;  but  for 
those  that  entreated  them  to  lend  them  their  right  hand 
and  sword  to  despatch  them,  they  wete  too  proud  to 
grant  their  requests,  and  left  them  to  be  consumed  by 
18 


206  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  famine."  This,  as  every  one  will  readily  see.  was 
a  "  sorer  punishment,"  than  death  inflicted  by  judicial 
authority,  for  despising  the  law  of  Moses. 

V.  30.  "  For  we  know,"  &c.  See  Deut.  xxxii. 
35,  36.  The  apostates  from  Christianity  need  not 
persecute  the  steadfast  Christians  ;  vengeance  belonged 
to  God,  —  he  would  render  a  recompense.  The  Lord 
shall  judge,  that  is,  avenge,  his  people.  He  will  vindi- 
cate Christianity  against  the  aspersions  of  its  enemies, 
and  cause  the  righteous  to  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the 
kingdom  of  their  Father.  He  will  pay  back  most  fear- 
fully on  these  apostates,  their  persecutions  of  the  faith- 
ful disciples. 

V.  31.  "  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  living  God  I  "  To  fall  into  the  hands  of  God,  in 
this  instance,  is  an  idiom  signifying  to  fall  under  the  se- 
verity of  the  divine  judgments.  In  one  sense  we  are 
all  in  the  hands  of  God  ;  we  are  the  subjects  of  his 
power,  and  he  can  do  by  us  as  he  will.  This  consid- 
eration, however,  is  by  no  means  a  fearful  one,  but  is  a 
source  of  consolation  and  joy  to  every  believer  of  the 
Gospel.  But  to  those  who  fell  under  the  divine  judg- 
ments by  which  Jerusalem  was  destroyed,  it  was  a 
fearful  thing.  They  found  it  so,  and  they  confessed 
it  so.  There  was  then  a  fearful  looking  for  of  judg- 
ment. The  time  was  called  "the  great  and  dreadful 
day  of  the  Lord."  There  was  then,  as  we  have  shown, 
a  time  of  trouble,  such  as  had  not  been  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world  to  that  time,  and  never  should  be. 
To  fall  under  the  severity  of  these  judgments  was  in- 
deed a  "  fearful  thing." 

But  we  are  also  to  remember,  that  it  is  more  safe, 
and  consequently  less  fearful,  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
God  than  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  men.  See  2  Sam. 
xxiv.  14.  The  reason  is,  the  mercies  of  God  are 
great,  over  all  his  works  ;  while,  compared  with  his, 
even  the  tender  mercies  of  men  are  cruelty.  We  may 
be  certain,  that  while  God  executes  justice  upon  us,  he 
will  so  execute  it  as  to  accomplish  his  merciful  design 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  207 

of  turning  us  away  from  our  iniquities,  making  us  par- 
takers of  holiness,  and  causing  us  to  enjoy  the  peacea- 
ble fruit  of  righteousness.  So  that,  although  the  divine 
judgments  seem  fearful,  when  viewed  alone,  yet,  when 
considered  in  connexion  with  the  effect  they  are  de- 
signed to  produce,  they  lose  much  of  their  dreadful- 
ness,  and  appear  to  be  displays  of  mercy  instead  of 
anger  and  wrath.  Let  us,  therefore,  neither  despise  the 
chastening  of  the  Lord,  nor  faint  when  we  are  rebuked 
by  him.  Heb.  xii.  5-11. 

LXXX.  "  Women  received  their  dead  raised  to  life  again ;  and 
others  were  tortured,  not  accepting  deliverance ;  that  they  might  ob- 
tain a  better  resurrection."  Hebrews  xi.  35. 

That  they  might  obtain  a  better  resurrection,  —  bet- 
ter than  what  ?  Does  it  mean,  that  there  are  two  kinds 
of  resurrection  into  the  future  state,  the  one  better  than 
the  other  ?  We  think  not ;  we  think  the  comparison 
was  between  the  resurrection  into  the  future,  and  a  re- 
turn to  the  present  life,  the  former  being  declared  to  be 
better  than  the  latter.  We  think  the  natural  sense  of 
the  passage  leads  to  this  interpretation.  Mark,  1st. 
"  Women  received  their  dead  raised  to  life  again." 
Here  was  one  resurrection.  Adam  Clarke,  the  Meth- 
odist, supposes  the  writer  in  Hebrews  to  refer  to  the 
case  of  the  woman  of  Zarephath,  (1  Kings  xvii.  21,) 
whose  son  Elijah  raised  to  life  ;  and  to  that  of  the  Shu- 
namite,  (2  Kings  iv.  34.)  These  women  received 
their  dead  children  raised  to  life  again,  that  is,  the  dead 
children  were  called  back  again  into  this  state  of  exist- 
ence. 2d.  Immediately  in  connexion  with  this  circum- 
stance, the  writer  in  Hebrews  adds,  that  u  others  were 
tortured,  not  accepting  deliverance,  that  they  might  ob- 
tain a  better  resurrection."  Better  than  what?  Ans. 
Better  than  calling  the  dead  back  again  into  this  world. 
The  unavoidable  inference  is,  that  a  resurrection  of  the 
dead  into  the  immortal  existence  is  better  than  to  bring 
them  back  again  into  this  world  ;  a  fact  which  is  well 
established  by  Scripture,  but  which  is  not  very  favor- 


208  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

able  to  the  doctrine  of  punishment  after  the  resurrec- 
tion. 

Dr.  Doddridge's  note  on  this  subject  is  worthy  of  a 
place.  He  says  ;  "  Dr.  Owen  understands  this,  as  if 
the  apostle  had  meant  the  better  resurrection  ;  that  is, 
the  resurrection  which  is  better  than  the  resurrection  of 
the  wicked.  But  it  is  observed  by  Jacobus  Capellus, 
that  most  probably  in  that  case,  the  article  would  have 
been  prefixed,  rfg  XQUTIOVOI;  avaaTdaewg.  The  opinion  of 
Crellius  and  Dr.  Hammond  is,  that  the  word  better  is 
to  be  understood  as  opposed  to  a  present  remission  of 
their  torments  ;  and  this  sense  I  have  adopted  in  the 
paraphrase,  supposing  it  bears  a  respect  to  the  deliver- 
ance they  would  not  accept,  mentioned  in  the  words 
immediately  preceding.  Mr.  Hallett  is  exceedingly 
clear,  that  the  opposition  lies  between  the  resurrection 
to  eternal  life,  which  these  martyrs  expected,  and  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  children  to  life  in  this  world, 
mentioned  in  the  first  clause  of  the  verse."  Other  quo- 
tations might  be  made  from  eminent  orthodox  commen- 
tators, confirming  the  view  taken  by  Dr.  Doddridge, 
Crellius,  Dr.  Hammond,  and  Mr.  Hallett ;  but  we  be- 
lieve, that  the  passage  is  itself  so  clear,  and  the  author- 
ity already  adduced  so  respectable,  no  further  confirm- 
ation can  be  desired. 

LXXXI.     "  Follow  peace   with   all  men,   and   holiness,   without 
which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord."     Heb.  xii.  14. 

To  see  the  Lord  is,  by  some,  supposed  to  signify  being 
in  his  immediate  presence,  in  the  immortal  world  ;  and 
it  is  thought  the  passage  intimates,  that  some  will  never 
thus  see  him.  But,  however  true  it  is,  that  all  men 
must  be  perfectly  holy  before  they  can  be  perfectly 
happy  in  the  future  life,  still  the  phrase  to  see  God  is 
used,  by  the  Hebrew  writers,  to  denote  a  state  of  spir- 
itual honor  and  enjoyment  in  the  present  life.  The  ex- 
pression arose  from  the  customs  of  the  eastern  kings. 
u  To  behold  the  king's  face,  was  considered  an  honor 
and  happiness  ;  much  more  to  see  it  habitually,  that  is, 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          209 

to  be  employed  in  his  immediate  service,  and  to  enjoy 
his  favor.  Thus  also  the  expression  to  see  God,  signi- 
fies to  experience  his  friendship,  and  to  be  admitted  to 
the  greatest  happiness  in  his  presence  ;  whereas,  not  to 
see  him,  is  to  be  shut  out  from  his  favor,  and  to  be 
under  his  awful  displeasure.  Christ  says  of  his  hum- 
blest followers,  that  in  heaven  their  angels  do  always 
behold  the  face  of  his  heavenly  Father  ;  referring  to  the 
usage  of  earthly  courts,  where  such  as  always  behold 
the  monarch's  face  were  highest  in  office  and  regard. 
By  this  he  signified,  that  these  little  ones  had  a  powerful 
interest  in  heaven,  and  were  peculiarly  dear  to  God 
himself ;  so  that  it  became  men  to  take  heed  how 
they  despised  them  (Matt,  xviii.  10).  To  sit  next  the 
king,  especially  on  his  right  hand,  was  a  mark  of  the 
highest  honor  and  dignity  (1  Kings  ii.  19  ;  Matt.  xx. 
20-23;  Heb.  i.  3)."  Nevin's  "Biblical  Antiqui- 
ties," i.  247. 

LXXXII.     "  For  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire."     Heb.  xii.  29. 

This  passage  is  often  used  to  give  force  to  the  doc- 
trine of  endless  misery,  and  thus  to  frighten  the  weak 
and  timid  Let  us  look  for  the  true  sense. 

The  passage  is  a  quotation  from  Deut.  iv.  24  ;"  For 
the  Lord  thy  God  is  a  consuming  fire."  If  the  reader 
will  peruse  the  twenth-fourth  chapter  of  Deuteronomy, 
he  will  perceive,  that  it  is  part  of  an  exhortation  which 
Moses  delivered  to  the  children  of  Israel.  He  was 
drawing  near  the  end  of  life,  and  must  soon  take  leave 
of  the  people,  who  were  about  entering  into  the  prom- 
ised land.  Many  of  them  had  not  been  eyewitnesses 
of  the  remarkable  dealings  of  God  with  the  Jews, 
while  they  were  on  their  journey  to  Canaan,  and  Moses 
seems  to  have  judged  it  necessary  to  recite,  in  brief,  the 
history  of  those  transactions.  He  exhorts  the  people 
to  obey  God's  law ;  and,  having  reverted  to  the  danger  of 
their  being  led  into  idolatry,  and  to  the  signal  judgments 
with  which  God  had  consumed  the  idolatrous  nations 
around  them,  he  tells  them  to  take  heed,  and  to  re- 
18* 


210  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

member  the  judgments  with  which  God  had  consumed 
others,  adding  ;  u  For  the  Lord  thy  God  is  a  con- 
suming fire,  and  a  jealous  God."  In  the  twelfth  of 
Hebrews,  Paul  was  exhorting  the  Jews  to  give  due  at- 
tention to  the  voice  of  God  in  the  new  covenant  of  his 
mercy.  He  tells  them,  they  had  come  to  Mount  Zion, 
&c.  &c.,  "  and  to  Jesus,  the  mediator  of  the  new  cov- 
enant, and  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  that  speaketh  better 
things  thaji  that  of  Abel."  He  then  adds,  "  See  that 
ye  refuse  not  him  that  speaketh.  For  if  they  escaped 
not  who  refused  him  that  spake  on  earth,  [that  is,  those 
Jews  who  were  regardless  of  the  word  God  spake 
unto  them,]  much  more  shall  we  not  escape,  if  we  turn 
away  from  him  that  speaketh  from  heaven."  He  .then 
proposes  the  same  incentive  to  obedience,  which  Moses 
had  done  ;  u  For  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire." 

In  view  of  these  circumstances,  I  think  we  come 
plainly  to  the  following  conclusion  ;  God  was  said  to  be 
"  a  consuming  fire,"  because  he  was  the  source  of  those 
judgments  which  he  sent  upon  the  Jews  for  their  sins, 
and  by  which  they  were  consumed.  Hence,  when  the 
children  of  Israel  were  about  to  cross  Jordan,  to  re- 
lieve them  of  all  fear  of  their  enemies,  Moses  said  to 
them,  "  Understand  therefore  this  day,  that  the  Lord 
thy  God  is  he  which  goeth  over  before  thee  ;  as  a  con- 
suming fire  he  shall  destroy  them  ;  and  he  shall  bring 
them  down  before  thy  face  ;  so  shalt  thou  drive  them 
out  and  destroy  them  quickly,  as  the  Lord  hath  said 
unto  thee." 

There  are  abundant  evidences  in  Scripture,  that 
"  God  is  a  consuming  fire."  We  read,  2  Thess.  ii. 
8,  "  then  shall  that  wicked  be  revealed,  whom  the  Lord 
shall  consume  with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  shall 
destroy  with  the  brightness  of  his  coming."  See  Ex- 
odus xxxii.  10  ;  xxxiii.  3.  See  also  Jer.  ix.  16  ;  UI 
will  send  a  sword  after  them  till  I  have  consumed 
them."  xiv.  12  ;  "I  will  consume  them  by  the  sword, 
and  by  the  famine,  and  by  the  pestilence."  Ezek.  xliii. 
8  ;  "I  have  consumed  them  in  mine  anger." 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         211 

Thus  we  see,  that  the  passage  we  are  considering 
gives  no  hint  of  endless  punishment,  or  of  any  punish- 
ment, out  of  this  state  of  being.  And  it  should  be 
always  remembered,  that  all  God's  judgments  are  ren- 
dered in  mercy.  "  He  doth  not  afflict  willingly,  nor 
grieve  the  children  of  men."  And,  although  these 
judgments  are  sometimes  terrible,  and  often  involved 
in  deep  mystery  to  human  wisdom,  still,  from  the  clear 
knowledge  we  have  of  the  principles  of  the  divine  gov- 
ernment, we  believe  that  all  have  a  benevolent  tenden- 
cy, and  that  they  shall  result  in  good,  even  to  those 
who  are  exercised  thereby. 

LXXXIII.  "  For  the  time  is  come  that  judgment  must  begin  at 
the  house  of  God ;  and  if  it  first  begin  at  us,  what  shall  the  end  be  of 
them  that  obey  not  the  gospel  of  God  ?  And  if  the  righteous  scarce- 
ly be  saved,  where  shall  the  ungodly  and  the  sinner  appear."  1  Peter 
iv.  17,  18. 

The  comment  of  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  on  this  text  is 
so  agreeable  to  my  own  views,  that  I  offer  it  without  fur- 
ther remark. 

cc  Judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God.~\  Our 
Lord  had  predicted,  that,  previously  to  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  his  own  followers  would  have  to  endure 
various  calamities.  See  Matt.  xxiv.  9,  21,  22  ;  Mark 
xiii.  12,  13  ;  John  xvi.  2,  &c.  Here  his  true  disci- 
ples are  called  the  house  or  family  of  God.  That  the 
converted  Jews  suffered  much  from  their  brethren,  the 
zealots  or  factions  into  which  the  Jews  were  then  di- 
vided, needs  little  proof ;  and  some  interpreters  think 
that  this  was  in  conformity  to  the  purpose  of  God. 
Matt,  xxiii.  35.  (That  on  you  may  come  all  the  righ- 
teous blood  shed  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,)  — 
'  That  the  Jewish  Christians  were  to  be  involved  in  the 
general  punishment ;  and  that  it  was  proper  to  begin  at 
them,  as  a  part  of  the  devoted  Jewish  nation,  notwith- 
standing they  were  now  become  the  house  of  God  ; 
because  the  justice  of  God  would,  thereby,  be  more  il- 
lustriously displayed.'  See  Macknight.  But,  prob- 
ably, the  word  x^«,  which  we  here  translate  judgment, 


..  212  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

may  mean  no  more  than  affliction  and  distress  ;  for  it 
was  a  Jewish  maxim,  that  when  God  was  about  to  pour 
down  some  general  judgment,  he  began  with  afflicting 
his  own  people,  in  order  to  correct  and  amend  them  ; 
that  they  might  be  prepared  for  the  overflowing 
scourge. 

"  And  if  it  first  begin  at  us]  Jews,  who  have  repented 
and  believed  on  the  Son  of  God.  What  shall  the  end 
be  of  them,  the  Jews  who  continue  impenitent,  and  obey 
not  the  gospel  of  God  ?  Here  is  the  plainest  reference 
to  the  above  Jewish  maxim  ;  and  this,  it  appears,  was 
founded  upon  the  text  which  St.  Peter  immediately 
quotes. 

"  And  if  the  righteous  scarcely  be  saved]  If  it  shall 
be  with  extreme  difficulty  that  the  Christians  shall  es- 
cape from  Jerusalem,  when  the  Roman  armies  shall 
come  against  it,  with  the  full  commission  to  destroy  it, 
where  shall  the  ungodly  and  the  sinner  appear  ?  Where 
shall  the  proud  Pharisaic  boaster  in  his  own  outside  ho- 
liness, and  the  profligate  transgressor  of  the  laws  of 
God,  show  themselves,  as  having  escaped  the  divine 
vengeance  ?  The  Christians,  though  with  difficulty, 
did  escape,  every  man  ;  but  not  one  of  the  Jews  es- 
caped, whether  found  in  Jerusalem  or  elsewhere. 

"  It  is  rather  strange,  but  it  is  a  fact,  that  this  verse 
is  the  Septuagint  translation  of  Prov.  xi.  31.  'Be- 
hold the  righteous  shall  be  recompensed  in  the  earth  ; 
much  more  the  wicked  and  the  sinner.'  For  this,  the 
Septuagint  and  St.  Peter  have  ;  '  If  the  righteous 
scarcely  be  saved,  where  shall  the  ungodly  and  the  sin- 
ner appear  ? '  Such  a  latitude  of  construction  can 
scarcely  be  accounted  for.  The  original  signifies  this  ; 
'  Behold,  to  the  righteous  it  shall  be  returned  on  the 
earth  ;  and  to  the  wicked  and  the  transgressor.' 

cc  The  Chaldee  Paraphrast  has  given  this  a  different 
turn  ;  c  Behold,  the  righteous  shall  be  strengthened  in 
the  earth  ;  but  the  ungodly  and  the  sinner  shall  be  con- 
sumed from  the  earth.' 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          213 

"  The  Syriac  thus  ;  "  If  the  righteous  scarcely  live, 
the  ungodly,  and  the  sinner,  where  shall  he  stand  ?  ' 

u  The  Jlrabic  is  nearly  the  same  as  the  Septuagint ; 
and  the  apostle  and  the  Vulgate  follow  the  Hebrew. 

"  I  have-,  on  several  occasions,  shown,  that  when 
Cestius  Gallus  came  against  Jerusalem,  many  Chris- 
tians were  shut  up  in  it  ;  when  he  strangely  raised  the 
siege,  the  Christians  immediately  departed  to  Pella,  in" 
Crelosyria,  into  the  dominions  of  king  Agrippa,  who 
was  an  ally  of  the  Romans  ;  and  there  they  were  m 
safety  ;  and  it  appears  from  the  ecclesiastical  historians', 
that  they  had  but  barely  time  to  leave  the  city  before 
the  Romans  returned  under  the  command  of  Titus,  and 
never  left  the  place  till  they  had  destroyed  the  temple, 
razed  the  city  to  the  ground,  slain  upwards  of  a  million 
of  those  wretched  people,  and  put  an  end  to  their  polity 
and  ecclesiastical  state." 

See  "  Universalist  Expositor,"  Vol.  III.  p.  375  ; 
Ballou's  "  Select  Sermons,"  No.  VI. 

LXXXIV.     2  Peter  ii.  4,  9. 

For  an  explanation  of  this  passage,  see  my  re- 
marks on  Jude,  ver.  6,  Section  LXXXVIII.  of  this 
chapter. 

LXXXV.     2  Peter  ii.  17. 

For  an  explanation  of  this  passage,  see  remarks  on 
Rev.  xiv.  9-11,  Sect.  XCII.  of  this  chapter. 

LXXXVI.     2  Peter  iii.  7-13. 

This  passage  has  been  frequently  used  to  prove  the 
destruction  of  the  material  earth,  and  a  day  of  judgment 
in  the  future  state.  We  have  shown  repeatedly  in 
these  pages,  that  God's  judgments  are  IN  THE  EARTH. 
But  as  this  text  is  not  generally  adduced  in  support  of 
strictly  endless  misery,  we. pass  it  here,  by  merely  ob- 
serving, that  those  who  wish  to  see  an  explanation  of 
the  whole  subject,  are  referred  to  the  "  Universalist 
Expositor,"  Vol.  III.  34-52.  Balfour's  " Essays," 
p.  260.  See  also  the  learned  notes  of  Hammond  and 
Witsius  on  this  subject,  in  Paige's  "  Selections." 


214  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

LXXXVII.  "  If  any  man  see  his  brother  sin  a  sin  which  is  not 
unto  death,  he  shall  ask,  and  he  shall  give  him  life  for  them  that  sin 
not  unto  death.  There  is  a  sin  unto  death ;  I  do  not  say  that  he 
shall  pray  for  it.  All  unrighteousness  is  sin ;  and  there  is  a  sin  not 
unto  death."  1  John  v.  16, 17. 

We  apprehend,  that  the  true  sense  of  this  passage  is 
made  manifest  by  the  following  paragraph  from  Home's 
"Introduction,"  Littell's  ed.  Vol.  III.  p.  143. 

"  The  Talmudical  writers  have  distinguished  the 
CAPITAL  PUNISHMENTS  of  the  Jews,  into  lesser  deaths, 
and  such  as  were  more  grievous  •  but  there  is  no  war- 
rant in  the  Scriptures  for  these  distinctions,  neither  are 
these  writers  agreed  among  themselves  what  particular 
punishments  are  to  be  referred  to  these  two  heads.  A 
capital  crime  was  generally  termed  a  sin  of  death 
(Deut.  xvii.  6)  ;  or  a  sin  worthy  of  death  (Deut.  xxi. 
22)  ;  which  mode  of  expression  is  adopted,  or  rather 
imitated  by  the  apostle  John,  who  distinguishes  between 
a  sin  unto  death,  and  a  sin  not  unto  death.  (1  John  v. 
16.)  Criminals,  or  those  who  were  deemed  worthy  of 
capita]  punishment,  were  called  sons,  or  men  of  death  ; 
(1  Sam.  xx.  32;  xxxi.  16.  ;  2  Sam.  xix.  28,  marg. 
reading)  just  as  he  who  had  incurred  the  punishment  of 
scourging  was  designated  a  son  of  stripes  (Deut.  xxv. 
16  ;  1  Kings  xiv.  6).  A  similar  phraseology  wras 
adopted  by  Jesus  Christ,  when  he  said  to  the  Jews,  ye 
shall  die  in  your  sins  (John  viii.  21,  24).  Eleven  dif- 
ferent sorts  of  capital  punishments  are  mentioned  in  the 
sacred  writings." 

From  the  above,  it  appears  that  a  sin  unto  death  was 
a  sin  deserving  of  death,  according  to  the  Jewish  code, 
and  which  could  not  be  pardoned  ;  whereas,  a  sin  not 
unto  death  was  either  a  sin  not  deserving  of  death,  or  a 
sin  which  might  be  pardoned,  after  death  had  been  de- 
nounced. We  cannot  see  that  the  passage  has  any  ref- 
erence whatever  to  the  future  state. 

Whoever  will  consult  Adam  Clarke  the  Methodist, 
on  this  subject,  will  find  his  views  not  to  disagree  with 
the  foregoing.  He  closes  by  saying  ;  u  I  do  not  think 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          215 

the  passage  has  any  thing  to  do  with  what  is  termed  the 
sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  I  have  proved  no 
man  can  now  commit. " 

The  design  of  the  apostle  seems  to  have  been,  t6 
cultivate  in  his  brethren  a  merciful  disposition,  which 
would  lead  them,  in  every  case  where  it  was  practica- 
ble, to  intercede  for  the  life  of  those  who  had  sinned 
under  the  Jewish  law. 

LXXXVI1I.  "And  the  angels  which  kept  not  their  first  estate, 
but  left  their  own  habitation,  he  hath  reserved  in  everlasting  chains, 
under  darkness,  unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day."  Jude  ver.  6. 

Is  there  any  thing  here  which  renders  it  necessary  to 
apply  this  passage  to  any  order  of  beings  above  men  ? 
Men  are  frequently  called  angels  in  the  Scriptures.  Let 
the  reader  take  any  Greek  Lexicon,  we  care  not  what 
one,  and  he  will  find  that  the  word  ayydo?,  is  defined  as 
signifying  a  human  messenger,  a  legate,  an  agent,  the 
bishop  or  president  of  a  particular  church,  &c.  &c. 
Certainly,  then,  the  mere  use  of  the  word  angel,  does 
not  show  that  this  passage  must  have  application  to  be- 
ings besides  men.  We  read  of  the  angel  of  the  church 
of  Ephesus  (Rev.  ii.  1)  ;  of  the  angel  of  the  church 
of  Smyrna  (8)  ;  of  the  angel  of  the  church  of  Perga- 
mos  (12)  ;  of  the  angel  of  the  church  of  Thyatira 
(18),  &c.  These  were,  without  doubt,  human  beings, 
men,  the  ministers,  elders,  or  messengers  of  those 
churches.  The  word  angel  is  not  "  a  name  of  nature, 
but  of  office,"  says  Austin,  in  Leigh's  Crit.  Sacr.  The 
angels,  or  messengers,  who  are  spoken  of  in  the  pas- 
sage before  us,  kept  not  their  first  estate,  or  office,  but 
left  their  habitation,  or  proper  place,  or  station,  by 
usurping  the  place  of  others,  (as  Macknight  renders  the 
words.)  All  this  has  taken  place  among  men  on  the 
earth. 

Now  let  us  take  the  rest  of  the  verse.  "  He  hath 
reserved  in  everlasting  chains  under  darkness,  unto  the 
judgment  of  the  great  day."  What  is  there  here  that 
compels  us  to  interpret  this  passage  of  any  other  state 


216  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNI  VERBALISM. 

of  existence  besides  the  present,  or  of  any  order  of 
beings  besides  men?  A  man  confined  in  a  dark  place, 
may  be  said  to  be  in  "  chains  of  darkness  ";  and  a  man 
bound  in  mental  blindness,  may  be  said  to  be  in  u  chains 
of  darkness."  But  these  are  said  to  be  everlasting 
chains.  True,  and  so  are  other  things  said  to  be  ever- 
lasting, that  belong  strictly  to  this  world.  We  read,  in 
the  Bible,  of  "everlasting  mountains,"  Hab.  iii.  6; 
the  everlasting  possession  of  Canaan,  Gen.  xvii.  8  ; 
xlviii.  4  ;  the  everlasting  hills ,  Gen.  xlix.  26  ;  the  ever- 
lasting priesthood  of  Aaron,  Exod.  xl.  15  ;  Numb. 
xxv.  13  ;  everlasting  statutes,  Lev.  xvi.  34  ;  and  ever- 
lasting doors.  Psalms  xxiv.  7.  Everybody  must  see, 
that  the  word  everlasting  furnishes  no  proof  whatsoever, 
in  itself,  that  the  matter  to  which  it  is  applied  must  needs 
be  looked  for  in  some  other  state  of  being. 

But  at  last  I  shall  be  told,  that  these  angels  must 
certainly  belong  to  some  other  world,  because  they  are 
said  to  be  reserved  "unto  the  judgment  of  the  great 
day."  But  is  there  no  judgment  in  this  world  ?  We 
read,  u  Verily  there  is  a  God  that  judgeth  [where  ?] 
in  the  earth."  Jesus  said,  "  For  judgment  I  am  come 
into  this  world."  He  said  again,  "  JYoto  is  the  judg- 
ment of  this  world."  And  Peter  said,  "  For  the  TIME 
is  COME,  that  judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of 
God."  There  must  be  judgment  in  this  world,  if  these 
passages  of  Scripture  are  true  ;  and  we  most  sincerely 
and  undoubtingly  believe  them  to  be  true.  But  one 

Question  more.     That  "great  day,"  when  shall  it  be  ? 
s  it  yet  future  ?     It  is  sufficient  to  say,  in  reply  to  this 
question,  that  any  day  was  called  the  day  of  God,  the 

Seat  day,  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord,  when 
od  visited  men  with  any  signal  display  of  his  power. 
So  when  he  visited  his  rebellious  people,  the  Jews,  the 
time  was  said  to  be  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the 
Lord.  See  Joel  ii.  1.  "For  the  day  of  the  Lord 
cometh  ;  it  is  nigh  at  hand."  After  describing  the  ap- 
proach of  the  destroying  armies,  and  the  consternation 
they  would  excite  in  every  breast,  the  prophet  adds, 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         217 

<c  And  the  Lord  shall  utter  his  voice  before  his  army  ; 
for  his  camp  is  very  great ;  for  he  is  strong  that  execut- 
eth  his  word  ;  for  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  great  and  very 
terrible  ;  and  who  can  abide  it  ?  "  verse  1  i.  See  also 
verse  31,  and  compare  Acts  ii.  16-20,  and  it  will  be 
seen,  that  Peter  applies  this  language  of  Joel  to  the 
events  connected  with  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
into  the  world,  and  the  destruction  of  the  Jews.  So 
we  see  that  this  time  of  visitation  was  called  THE  GREAT 
DAY  OF  THE  LORD.  In  Zeph.  i.  14.  we  read,  "  The 
GREAT  DAY  of  the  Lord  is  NEAR,  it  is  near,  and  hast- 
eth  greatly,  even  the  voice  of  the  day  of  the  Lord  ;  the 
mighty  man  shall  cry  there  bitterly."  No  one  will  think 
of  applying  this  to  eternity  ;  but  yet  it  describes  u  the 
great  day."  So  again,  in  Rev.  vi.  17,  it  is  said,  "  for 
the  GREAT  DAY  of  his  wrath  is  COME  ;  and  who  shall 
be  able  to  stand  ? "  Let  me  repeat,  that  we  learn  from 
the  Scriptures  now  adduced,  that  any  time  of  remarka- 
ble visitation  was  called  "  the  great  day  "  of  the  Lord. 
We  then  reaffirm  the  proposition,  that  there  is  nothing 
in  the  passage  from  Jude,  which  heads  this  article,  that 
makes  it  necessary  to  apply  it  to  any  other  beings  be- 
sides men,  or  to  any  world  besides  that  in  which  we  now 
live. 

If  any  person  will  read  the  5th,  6th,  and  7th  verses 
of  Jude  in  connexion,  he  will  see  that  three  classes  of 
persons  are  brought  forward  as  illustrations  and  proofs 
of  a  fact  which  Jude  had  stated,  verse  4.  He  was 
writing  of  the  false  teachers,  who  had  crept  unawares 
into  the  church,  and  showing  that  they  were  before  of 
old  ordained  to  condemnation,  verse  4.  They  should 
not  escape  swift  retribution,  for,  as  Peter  said,  u  whose 
JUDGMENT  NOW  of  a  long  time  LINGERETH  NOT,  and 
their  damnation  slumbereth  not."  2  Pet.  ii.  3.  Their 
judgment  was  not  in  eternity  ;  it  was  coming  upon  them 
swiftly.  To  prove  that  this  was  the  way  God  had  ever 
dealt  with  men,  Jude  refers  to  three  classes  of  men. 
1st.  To  those  who  were  delivered  out  of  Egypt,  but 
were  afterwards  destroyed,  because  they  believed  not, 
19 


218  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

[verse  5.]  2d.  To  those  messengers,  ministers,  or 
angels,  who  kept  not  their  proper  offices  ;  and  who,  so 
far  from  escaping  punishment,  were  doomed  to  dark- 
ness of  mind,  and  were  judged  in  the  great  day  of 
God's  visitation,  [verse  6.]  3d.  To  the  cities  of  So- 
dom and  Gomorrah,  who  forsook  God,  and  did  wick- 
edly, and  who  were  punished  with  an  entire  overthrow, 
[verse  7.]  Is  there  not  all  the  reason  (we  ask  the 
candid  reader)  for  men  to  apply  the  verses  which  speak 
of  the  rebellious  and  unbelieving  Jews,  and  the  wicked 
inhabitants  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  to  the  future 
world,  and  to  make  out  that  they  were  all  superhuman 
beings,  that  there  is  to  give  the  verse  in  question  such 
an  application  ? 

LXXXIX.  "  Even  as  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  the  cities  about 
them,  in  like  manner,  giving  themselves  over  to  fornication,  and 
going  after  strange  flesh,  are  set  forth  for  an  example,  suffering  the 
vengeance  of  eternal  fire."  Jude,  verse  7. 

We  have  spoken  repeatedly,  in  these  pages,  of  the 
destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  See  particular- 
ly what  we  have  said  on  Matt.  x.  15,  Section  IX.  of 
this  chapter.  It  cannot  be  necessary  that  we  enlarge 
upon  the  subject  here  ;  and  we  shall  content  ourselves 
by  offering  the  following  very  full  and  learned  note  from 
the  commentary  of  Dr.  Whitby. 

u  That  this  is  spoken  not  of  the  cities  themselves, 
but  of  the  inhabitants  which  dwelt  in  them,  — that  is,  of 
them  who  had  given  themselves  over  to  fornication,  and 
gone  after  strange  flesh,  —  is  evident  ;  but  yet  I  con- 
ceive they  are  said  to  suffer  the  vengeance  of  eternal 
fire,  not  because  their  souls  are  at  present  punished  in 
hell  fire,  but  because  they,  and  their  cities,  perished 
from  that  fire  from  heaven,  which  brought  a  perpetual 
and  irreparable  destruction  on  them  and  their  cities. 

"  For  (1,)  we  have  proved,  —  note  on  2  Pet.  ii.  6, 
and  iii.  7,  —  that  even  the  devils  themselves  are  not  tor- 
mented, at  present,  in  that  infernal  fire,  but  only  will  be 
cast  into  it  at  the  day  of  judgment  ;  and,  therefore, 
neither  do  the  wicked  Sodomites  yet  suffer  in  those 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         219 

flames.  (2,)  I  would  admonish  you,  saith  the  apostle, 
though  you  once  knew  this,  that  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
thus  suffered  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire.  Now,  from 
the  history  of  Genesis,  and  the  writings  of  the  proph- 
ets, they  might  know  that  these  cities,  and  the  inhabit- 
ants of  them,  were  overthrown,  a?  aiwva,  with  a  per- 
petual desolation,  Zeph.  ii.  9,  but  they  could  not  know 
from  thence  that  their  souls  were  afterwards  cast  into  hell 
fire.  (3,)  To  dfHynn,  an  example,  is  to  be  taken  from 
something  visible  to,  or  knowable  by,  all  who  were  to 
be  terrified  by  it,  especially  when  it  is  an  example  man- 
ifested and  proposed.  Now  such  was  not  the  punish- 
ment of  their  souls  in  hell  fire  ;  but  nothing  was  more 
known  and  celebrated  among  authors,  sacred  and  pro- 
fane, Jewish,  Christian,  and  heathen  writers,  than  the 
fire  that  fell  down  upon  Pentapolis,  or  the  five  cities  of 
Sodom,  they  being  mentioned  still  in  Scripture,  as  the 
cities  which  God  overthrew  with  a  perpetual  desolation. 
"  Nor  is  there  any  thing  more  common  and  familiar 
in  Scripture,  than  to  represent  a  thorough  and  irrepara- 
ble vastation,  whose  effects  and  signs  should  be  still  re- 
maining, by  the  word  aimno?,  which  we  would  here  ren- 
der eternal.  I  will  set  thee,  fig  I'^/uov  txiamor,  in  places 
desolate  of  old,  Ezek.  xxvi.  20.  I  wrill  destroy  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  be  no  more,  fig  iov  uituru,  forever,  verse 
21.  J  will  make  thee,  eorltuiav  aimvtor,  a  perpetual  desola- 
tion, and  thy  cities  shall  be  built  no  more,  chapter  xxxv.  9. 
See  also  Ezek.  xxxvi.  2  ;  Isaiah  Iviii.  12.  They  have 
caused  them  to  stumble  in  their  ways,  to  make  their  land 
desolate,  and  ai'Qiynn  niwnov,  a  perpetual  hissing,  Jer. 
xviii.  15,  16.  I  will  bring  you,  orfidia^iov  ulmviov,  an  ever- 
lating  reproach,  and  a  perpetual  shame,  which  shall  not  be 
forgotten,  Jer.  xxiii.  40,  and  xxv.  9.  I  will  make  the 
land  of  the  Chaldeans  a  perpetual  desolation,  they  shall 
sleep,  vnvov  CCIMVIOV,  a  perpetual  sleep,  Jer.  li.  39.  And 
this  especially  is  threatened,  where  the  destruction  of  a 
nation  or  people  is  likened  to  the  overthrow  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  ;  thus  Babylon  shall  be  as  when  God 
overthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  ov  xaro/xTj^rjajrat  tig 


220  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 


tov  (xiwva  XQOVOV,  it  shall  never  be  inhabited,  Isa.  xiii.  19, 
20.  And  again,  Jer,  1.  40."  ' 

This  furnishes  full  proof,  that  Dr.  Whitby  believed 
in  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery,  and  probably  believ- 
ed that  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rah would  suffer  eternal  torments  ;  but  he  did  not  be- 
lieve, that  the  words,  Jude,  verse  7,  should  be  applied 
to  a  future  state  of  punishment  at  all,  but  to  the  over- 
throw and  destruction  of  those  cities  upon  the  earth. 

XC.     Jude,  verse  13. 

Here  we  find  the  phrase  forever  applied  to  punish- 
ment, as  we  did  also  in  2  Peter  ii.  17.  For  our  re- 
marks on  this  point,  see  on  Rev.  xiv.  9—11,  section 
XCII.  of  this  chapter. 

XCI.     Rev.  ii.  11  ;  xx.  6,  14  ;  xxi.  8. 

In  these  four  passages,  and  in  these  alone,  in  the 
whole  Bible,  we  find  the  phrase  SECOND  DEATH. 

It  is  fortunate  for  us  that  we  are  not  left  to  learn  the 
import  of  the  phrase  in  question  from  men.  The  in- 
spired writer  has  himself  given  us  a  clue  to  the  subject, 
which  it  will  now  be  our  business  briefly  to  trace. 
From  two  passages  it  seems  very  manifest,  that  being 
cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  is  the  second  death.  See 
Rev.  chap,  xx.  14,  and  xxi.  8.  If  we  can  learn  any 
thing  in  relation  to  the  lake  of  fire,  we  shall  at  the  same 
time  learn  the  circumstances  attending  the  second 
death. 

The  lake  of  fire  is  mentioned  five  times  only  in  the 
Bible,  viz.  Rev.  xix.  20,  xx.  10,  14,  15,  and  xxi.  8. 
And  here  we  beg  leave  to  ask  the  advocates  of  endless 
misery,  if  they  believe  the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone 
spoken  of  as  the  place  of  the  second  death,  to  be  a 
lake  of  literal  fire  and  brimstone  ?  If  they  are  pleased 
to  answer  in  the  affirmative,  we  would  again  ask  them, 
if  they  consider  the  beast,  mentioned  xix.  19,  and  20, 
to  be  a  literal  beast  ?  If  so,  we  suppose  death  and 
hell,  mentioned  xx.  14,  are  to  be  understood  as  literal 
likewise,  and  they  too,  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  By 
turning  to  chap.  vi.  8,  we  shall  see  death  mounted  upon 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.  221 

a  pale  horse,  which  of  course  was  literal,  cc  and  hell," 
literal  also,  u  followed  with  him."  If  all  these  things 
are  to  be  received  as  literal,  —  death  mounted  upon  a 
pale  horse,  and  hell  following  with  him,  —  the  beast 
with  "seven  heads  and  ten  horns,"  and  last,  though 
not  least,  the  lake  of  fire  burning  with  brimstone,  into 
which  the  others  were  cast,  —  Catholic  credulity  itself 
will,  we  fear,  prove  insufficient  for  the  task.  But  this 
no  one  in  his  sober  senses  will  pretend.  Still,  if  the 
lake  of  fire  must  be  understood  to  be  literal,  why  not 
all  the  rest  ?  Let  consistency  be  preserved,  and  let  us 
not  cast  a  figurative  beast,  and  death,  and  horse,  and 
hell,  into  a  literal  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone. 

But,  by  looking  a  little  closer  to  the  subject,  we  shall 
find  very  good  evidence  to  believe,  that  the  lake  of  fire, 
terrible  as  it  may  be,  is  yet  in  this  our  insignificant  and 
passing  world,  and  makes  no  part  of  the  apparatus  of 
eternity.  We  read,  chap.  xix.  20,  "  And  the  beast 
was  taken,  and  with  him  the  false  prophet,  that  wrought 
miracles  before  him,  with  which  he  deceived  them  that 
had  received  the  mark  of  the  beast,  and  them  that  wor- 
shipped his  image.  These  both  were  cast  ALIVE  into  the 
lake  of  fire  and  brimstone."  Now,  whatever  may  be  said 
to  the  contrary,  it  cannot  be  reasonably  supposed,  that, 
literal  or  figurative,  the  beast  and  false  prophet  could 
be  cast  alive,  that  is,  without  suffering  death  or  change, 
into  the  lake  of  fire,  allowing  that  to  be  in  the  future 
and  eternal  world.  But  that  they  were  so  cast  there, 
must  be  believed,  or  the  notion  that  the  lake  of  fire  is 
removed  from  this  world  be  given  up.  Dr.  Clarke's 
notes  on  this  passage  are  amusing  ;  "  The  beast,"  says 
he,  "  has  been  represented  as  the  Latin  empire  ;  the 
image  of  the  beast,  the  popes  of  Rome,  and  the  false 
prophet,  the  papal  clergy."  On  the  phrase,  u  were 
cast  alive  into  the  lake  of  fire,"  he  says,  by  way  of 
exposition,  "  Were  discomfited  when  alive,  in  the  ze- 
nith of  their  power,  and  destroyed  with  an  utter  de- 
struction ; "  that  is,  the  Latin  empire  and  the  papal 
clergy  were  discomfited,  &c.  This  is  being  cast  into 
19* 


222  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  lake  of  fire  ! !  The  pope  and  his  clergy  were  dis- 
comfited !  !  If  the  Doctor  was  right  here,  the  lake 
of  fire  and  brimstone  is  not  only  in  this  world,  but 
quite  tolerable  too. 

Again  we  read,  chap.  xx.  10,  "And  the  devil  that 
deceived  them  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  and  brim- 
stone, where  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  are,  and 
shall  be  tormented  day  and  night,  forever  and  ever." 
Here  too,  we  observe,  that  the  lake  of  fire  was  plainly 
in  this  world,  inasmuch  as  the  alternations  of  day  and 
night  can  hardly  be  imagined  to  belong  to  any  other 
state  of  existence  than  the  present. 

For  ourselves,  we  are  unable  to  find  any  satisfactory 
proof  that  the  second  death  is  beyond  the  grave.  Va- 
rious circumstances,  on  the  contrary,  combine  to  lead 
us  to  a  very  different  result.  Those  above  specified 
are  among  the  number.  The  expressions  relative  to  u  the 
dead,  small  and  great,"  standing  before  God,  and  to 
the  sea,  and  death,  and  hell  giving  up  the  dead  in  them, 
we  conceive  to  refer  to  Dan.  xii.  2,  and  John  v.  29. 
We  understand  them  all  to  relate  not  to  those  literally 
dead.  "  And  they  were  judged  every  man  according  to 
his  works."  See  Matt.  xvi.  27,  28,  where  such  a  judg- 
ment is  described  as  coming  during  that  generation. 
Matt.  xxv.  31,  &c.  refers  to  the  same  time. 

The  supposition  that  seems  most  probable  to  us,  is, 
that  the  lake  of  fire  is  the  same  as  the  everlasting  fire 
prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels  ;  see  Matt.  xxv. 
41  ;  the  same  as  the  furnace  of  fire  ;  Matt.  xiii.  42  ; 
and  is  clearly  foretold  by  Mai.  iv.  1,5.  See  also  Ezek. 
xxii.  17-22,  inclusive.  That  all  these  were  in  this 
world,  is  susceptible  of  the  most  satisfactory  proof. 
The  second  death  consisted  in  being  cast  into  this  lake 
of  fire,  or  it  was  the  punishment  which  the  wicked,  par- 
ticularly the  Jews,  suffered  in  the  subversion  of  their 
state,  and  the  total  overthrow  of  their  temple  and  city.* 


*  For  these  remarks  we  are  indebted  to  the  "  Christian  Messen- 
ger," Vol.  II.  No.  4. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         223 

The  views  of  Rev.  Warren  Skinner,  on  the  u  Sec- 
ond Death,"  may  be  found  in  the  work  entitled, 
"Eternal  Hell  Torments  Overthrown,"  pp.  70-75, 
note.  For  the  views  of  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou,  see  his 
work  entitled.  u  Examination  of  the  Doctrine  of  Future 
Retribution,"  pp.  185—  196.  For  an  essay  on  the  book 
of  Revelations  in  general,  see  "  Universalist  Exposi- 
tor," Vol.  III.  pp.  193-220;  IV.  101. 

A  sermon  on  this  subject  was  published  in  1832,  at 
Taunton,  by  Rev.  J.  B.  Dods,  then  pastor  of  the 
Universalist  society  in  that  place,  now  of  Provincetown, 
Mass.,  in  which  many  things  are  advanced  worthy  of 
deep  consideration.  The  following  very  long  extract 
will  pay  the  reader  for  a  careful  perusal. 

tc  Our  opposers  suppose,  that  by  the  first  death  is 
meant  the  death  of  the  body,  and  by  the  second  is 
meant  an  eternal  death  in  the  future  world,  which  con- 
sists in  the  most  exquisite  sufferings  that  the  imagina- 
tion can  conceive.  It  must  be  granted  by  all  that  a 
second  death,  not  only  presupposes  a  first,  but  implies 
that  it  must  be  of  the  same  character  with  the  first 
death,  —  or  that  there  must  at  least  subsist  between 
them  an  analogy  sufficiently  strong  to  justify  the  subse- 
quent phrase,  second  death,  as  relative  to  its  antecedent, 
—  a  first  death.  But  what  resemblance  is  there  be- 
tween the  death  of  the  body,  which  is  a  total  loss  of  all 
sensation  and  pain,  and  a  state  of  the  most  exquisite 
suffering  in  the  immortal  world  ?  Non'e  at  all.  Then 
they  do  not  stand  in  relation  to  each  other,  so  as  to  jus- 
tify the  expression  of  first  and  second  death. 

#  #  #  #  * 

"  We  now  proceed  to  show,  that  the  first  and  second 
death  mean  the  first  and  second  destruction  of  the  Jews 
as  a  nation,  which  took  place  at  the  destruction  of  their 
first  and  second  temple.  We  will  show  that  the  sec- 
ond death  is  national,  not  moral. 

"  God  established  the  Jews,  as  a  nation,  in  the  land 
of  Judea,  under  a  government  purely  religious,  which 
constituted  their  national  existence.  Their  first  temple 


224  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSAL1SM. 

was  built  by  Solomon,  and  was  considered  the  dwelling- 
place  of  the  MOST  HIGH,  where  he  more  immediately 
manifested  the  divine  presence  and  glory  to  his  wor- 
shipping people.  Though  he  was  said  to  '  dwell  be- 
tween the  cherubirns,'  and  to  fill  that  house  with  his 
glory,  yet  they  considered  him  as  present  throughout 
the  whole  land  of  Judea,  directing  their  national  con- 
cerns. Their  government  was  a  theocracy.  On  this 
account  they  would  not  admit,  that  God  was  present 
among  the  heathen  in  such  a  sense,  that  they  could 
worship  him,  or  even  '  sing  a  song  of  Zion  in  a  strange 
land.'  In  the  land  of  Judea  only  could  they,  as  a  na- 
tion, live  before  him,  enjoy  his  presence,  and  worship 
in  his  temple  on  Zion's  hill.  When  their  government 
was  destroyed,  and  they  were  led  away  into  captivity 
among  the  heathen,  they  considered  themselves  as  a 
nation  dead  before  God,  and  banished  from  his  pres- 
ence. 

"  That  God  promised  the  Jews  the  continuance  of 
national  existence  and  prosperity  in  the  land  he  had 
given  their  fathers  in  case  of  their  obedience,  is  a  subject 
so  obvious  to  every  reader  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures, 
that  it  would  be  a  waste  of  words  to  attempt  formally 
to  prove  it.  And  that  he  again  and  again  threatened  to 
cast  them  out  of  his  presence  from  the  land  of  Judea, 
and  scatter  them  among  the  heathen,  in  case  of  their 
disobedience,  is  also  plainly  taught. 

u  To  throw  light  on  the  exposition  we  are  now  about 
to  give,  we  would  remark,  that  when  a  nation  were 
roused  from  stupidity  to  a  sense  of  their  impending  de- 
struction,—  when  their  energies  were  awakened  into 
intense  action  by  the  approaching  horrors  of  war,  and 
its  attendant  calamities,  the  sacred  writers  not  unfre- 
quently  represent  it  by  the  striking  figure  of  being  dead 
and  buried  in  the  grave,  and  starting  suddenly  from  its 
silent  bosom  to  a  state  of  condemnation.  And  when  a 
nation  or  people  were  in  a  state  of  oppression  and  ser- 
vile bondage,  or  persecution,  and  were  suddenly  to  be 
brought  into  a  higher  state  of  enjoyment,  or  to  return  to 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         225 

their  former  privileges,  it  was  also  represented  by  a  res- 
urrection, but  it  was  a  resurrection  to  life.  In  evidence 
of  this,  see  John  v.  28,  29,  and  Daniel  xii.  2,  both  of 
which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  notice  hereafter.  It 
may  not  be  improper  in  this  place  to  introduce  some 
orthodox  authority  to  support  our  views.  Parkhurst 
says,  that  the  Greek  word  avuaraai?,  translated  resur- 
rection, which  is  derived  from  the  verb  <mari7/u,  signi- 
fying to  rise,  has  the  following  signification  :  '  A  stand- 
ing on  the  feet  again,  or  rising  as  opposed  to  falling," 
— c  a  rising,  or  resurrection  of  the  body  from  the 
grave.'  Dr.  Campbell  says,  that  'the  phrase,  «»«'- 
araaig  rwy  VMQUV,  is  indeed  the  common  term  by  which 
the  resurrection,  properly  so  called,  is  denominated  in 
the  New  Testament,  yet  this  is  neither  the  only,  nor 
the  primitive,  import  of  the  word  avdajauig.  It  denotes 
simply  being  raised  from  inactivity  to  action,  or  from 
obscurity  to  eminence,  or  a  return  to  such  a  state  after 
an  interruption.  The  verb  dy/otqpi  has  the  like  latitude 
of  signification  ;  and  both  words  are  used  in  this  extent 
by  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  as  well  as  by  the 
LXX.'  in  the  Old.  My  hearers  will  please  keep  the 
above  in  mind. 

u  We  will  now  proceed  to  prove,  by  an  appeal  to  the 
Scriptures,  that  the  captivity  of  the  Jews  as  a  nation, 
when  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  overturned 
their  government,  and  burnt  their  first  temple,  is  the 
first  death.  Leviticus  xxvi.  39.  '  And  they  that  are 
left  of  you  shall  pine  away  in  their  iniquity  in  your  en- 
emies' lands,  and  also  in  the  iniquities  of  their  fathers 
shall  they  pine  away  with  them.'  Ezekiel  xxiv.  23. 
'  But  ye  shall  pine  away  for  your  iniquities  and  mourn 
one  towards  another.'  Ezekiel  xxxiii.  10,  1 1.  '  There- 
fore, O  son  of  man,  speak  unto  the  house  of  Israel, 
thus  speak  ye,  saying  :  if  our  transgressions  and  our 
sins  be  upon  us,  and  we  pine  away  in  them,  how  should 
we  then  live  ?  Say  unto  them,  as  I  live,  saith  the  Lord 
God,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked  ; 
turn  ye,  turn  ye  from  your  evil  ways,  for  why  will  ye 


226  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

die,  O  house  of  Israel  ? '  Here,  we  perceive,  that 
they  were  not  to  die  a  moral  death,  for  they  were  al- 
ready morally  dead.  And  this  moral  death  was  the 
very  cause  that  should  produce  national  death. 

u  These  are  a  few  of  the  many  scriptures  we  might 
bring  forward  to  prove,  that  the  house  of  Israel  pined 
away  in  their  iniquities,  and  died,  as  a  nation,  in  the 
land  of  their  enemies  ;  but  these  few  abundantly  estab- 
lish the  fact,  that  the  captivity  of  th«  Jews  among  the 
heathen,  on  account  of  their  transgressions,  was  consid- 
ered a  national  death.  They  died  to  all  their  religious 
privileges,  lost  their  national  existence,  and  pined  away 
in  their  iniquities  in  the  land  of  their  enemies. 

"  It  now  remains,  that  we  show,  that  their  return  to 
their  land  at  the  end  of  their  captivity,  when  they  re- 
built the  temple  under  Cyrus,  is  represented  by  a  res- 
urrection to  national  life.  Ezekiel  xxxvii.  3  — 14. 
*  And  he  said  unto  me,  son  of  man,  can  these  bones 
live  ?  And  I  answered,  O  Lord  God.,  thou  knowest. 
Again  he  said  unto  me,  prophesy  upon  these  bones, 
and  say  unto  them,  O  ye  dry  bones,  hear  the  word  of 
the  Lord.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  unto  these  dry 
bones  ;  behold  I  will  cause  breath  to  enter  into  you, 
and  ye  shall  live  :  And  I  will  lay  sinews  upon  you,  and 
will  bring  flesh  upon  you,  and  cover  you  with  skin,  and 
put  breath  in  you,  and  ye  shall  live  ;  and  ye  shall  know 
that  I  am  the  Lord.  So  I  prophesied  as  I  was  com- 
manded ;  and  as  I  prophesied,  there  was  a  noise,  and 
behold  a  shaking,  and  the  bones  came  together,  bone  to 
his  bone.  And  when  I  beheld,  lo,  the  sinews  and  the 
flesh  came  upon  them,  and  the  skin  covered  them  above  ; 
but  there  was  no  breath  in  them.  Then  said  he  unto 
me,  prophesy  unto  the  wind,  prophesy,  son  of  man, 
and  say  to  the  wind,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  come 
from  the  four  winds,  O  breath,  and  breathe  upon  these 
slain,  that  they  may  live.  So  I  prophesied  as  he  com- 
manded me,  and  the  breath  came  into  them,  and  they 
lived,  and  stood  upon  their  feet  an  exceeding  great  ar- 
my. Then  said  he  unto  me,  son  of  man,  these  bones 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          227 

are  the  whole  house  of  Israel  :  behold  they  say,  our 
bones  are  dried,  and  our  hope  is  lost  :  we  are  cut  off 
for  our  parts.  Therefore,  prophesy,  and  say  unto 
them,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God  ;  behold,  O  my  people, 
I  will  open  your  graves,  and  cause  you  to  come  up  out 
of  your  graves,  and  bring  you  into  the  land  of  Israel. 
And  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord,  when  I  have 
opened  your  graves,  O  my  people,  and  brought  you  up 
out  of  your  graves  ;  and  shall  put  my  spirit  in  you,  and 
ye  shall  live,  and  I  shall  place  you  in  your  own  land  : 
then  shall  ye  know  that  I  the  Lord  have  spoken  it,  and 
performed  it,  saith  the  Lord.' 

"  Thus,  we  see,  it  is  most  plainly  revealed,  that 
when  the  house  of  Israel  sinned,  and  became  careless 
and  insensible  respecting  the  favors  of  God  and  the 
threatenings  of  his  word,  they  were  suddenly  roused 
from  their  dreadful  slumberings  by  the  approach  of  the 
king  of  Babylon,  who  burnt  their  temple,  led  them  in- 
to captivity  beyond  Babylon,  and  held  them  in  bondage 
seventy  years.  There  they  pined  away  in  their  iniqui- 
ties, and  became  as  a  valley  of  dry  bones.  They  were 
dead  to  all  their  privileges  and  enjoyments  as  a  nation. 
Their  government  was  demolished,  and  their  national 
existence  was  no  more.  They  were  not  only  dead  in 
this  sense,  but  in  their  graves,  and  buried.  They  hung 
their  harps  in  mournful  silence  upon  the  willows  along 
the  cold  streams  of  Babylon,  and  exclaimed,  c  How 
shall  we  sing  the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange  land  ! '  Hut 
their  bones  were  gathered,  flesh  came  upon  them,  their 
graves  were  opened,  the  earth  gave  up  its  dead,  and 
they  were  brought  into  the  land  of  their  fathers,  their 
temple  was  rebuilt  by  order  of  Cyrus,  their  theocrati- 
cal  government  was  established,  and  they  lived  once 
more  as  a  nation  before  God. 

"  We  are  now  to  prove,  that  the  events  recorded  in 
our  text  took  place  at  the  destruction  of  their  second 
temple,  when  their  government  was  again  demolished, 
and  they  as  a  nation  were  destroyed  and  dead  before 
God. 


228  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

"  In  order  to  bring  this  part  of  our  subject  plainly  be- 
fore you,  we  shall  have  to  make  a  pretty  extensive  ap- 
peal to  the  Scriptures  ;  and  I  harbour  but  little  doubt, 
that  I  shall  abundantly  satisfy  my  hearers  of  the  cor- 
rectness of  my  views  on  the  second  death. 

"  The  Jews,  though  subject  to  the  Romans,  were, 
nevertheless,  permitted  to  enjoy  their  own  theocratical 
government,  and  all  their  modes  of  worship,  in  the 
temple.  John  xviii.  31.  'Then  said  Pilate  unto 
them,  take  ye  him  and  judge  him  according  to  your 
law.'  John  xix.  7.  '  The  Jews  answered  him,  we 
have  a  law,  and  by  our  law  he  ought  to  die,  because 
he  made  himself  the  Son  of  God.'  From  these  scrip- 
tures it  is  evident,  that  the  Jews  had  a  government,  dis- 
tinct from  the  Romans.  But  they  had  killed  the  true 
prophets,  made  void  the  law  of  God  through  their  tra- 
ditions, worshipped  idols,  and  made  their  children  pass 
through  the  fire  to  Moloch  in  the  valley  of  Hinnom. 
They  were  filling  up  the  measure  of  their  fathers,  the 
day  of  vengeance  was  approaching,  when  all  the  blood 
shed  upon  the  earth  from  Abel  to  Zacharias  should 
come  upon  that  generation.  Blind  to  approaching  ruin, 
they  slept,  as  it  were,  in  carnal  security,  in  the  grave 
of  iniquity  and  darkness,  were  dead  before  God  in  their 
sins,  and  rejected  their  promised  Messiah. 

"  From  this  state  of  security  and  blindness,  they 
were  to  be  suddenly  roused  to  a  state  of  national  con- 
dernnation  and  death  at  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
his  kingdom,  which  was  at  the  destruction  of  their  sec- 
ond temple,  when  Titus,  the  son  of  Vespasian,  led  the 
Roman  army  against  them,  demolished  their  govern- 
ment, and  Jed  them  captive  among  all  nations.  This 
was  their  second  death,  called  a  lake  of  fire.  God's 
judgments  upon  the  Jews,  we  will  presently  show,  were 
represented  by  fire. 

"  We  will  first  establish  the  fact,  by  concurrent 
Scripture  testimony,  that  our  text  has  reference  to  the 
second  scattering  of  the  holy  people  at  the  destruction 
of  the  second  temple,  when  the  daily  sacrifice,  there 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          229 

offered  up,  should  be  taken  away.  Daniel  ii.  44. 
'  And  in  the  days  of  these  kings  shall  the  God  of 
heaven  set  up  a  kingdom,  which  shall  never  be  destroy- 
ed ;  and  the  kingdom  shall  not  be  left  to  other  people, 
but  it  shall  break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  these  king- 
doms, and  it  shall  stand  forever.'  Here  is  proof  pos- 
itive, that  the  mediatorial  kingdom  was  set  up  in  the 
days  of  the  Roman  kings,  and  of  that  kingdom  Christ 
then  took  the  throne.  Let  us  now  examine,  if  the 
opening  of  the  books  and  the  judgment  mentioned  in 
our  text,  did  not  then  take  place.  Daniel  vii.  9-14. 
'  I  beheld  till  the  thrones  were  cast  down,  and  the  An- 
cient of  days  did  sit,  whose  garment  was  white  as  snow, 
and  the  hair  of  his  head  like  the  pure  wool  ;  his  throne 
was  like  the  fiery  flame,  and  his  wheels  as  burning  fire. 
A  fiery  stream  issued  and  came  forth  from  before  him  ; 
thousands  and  thousands  ministered  unto  him,  and  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  stood  before  him  ;  the 
judgment  was  set,  and  the  books  icere  opened.  I  saw  in 
the  night  visions,  and  behold,  one  like  the  Son  of  man 
came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  came  to  the  An- 
cient of  days,  and  they  brought  him  near  before  him. 
And  there  was  given  him  dominion,  and  glory,  and  a 
kingdom,  that  all  people,  nations,  and  languages,  should 
serve  him  ;  his  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion, 
which  shall  not  pass  away,  and  his  kingdom  that  which 
shall  not  be  destroyed.' 

"  In  the  language  of  the  prophet  above  quoted,  there 
can  arise  no  misapprehension  as  to  the  time  when  this 
judgment  should  sit.  He  plainly  declares,  that  it 
should  be  at  a  time  when  the  kingdom  should  be  given 
to  the  Son  of  man, — when  he  should  commence  his 
reign, — that  then  the  judgment  should  sit,  and  the 
books  be  opened.  This  is  almost  in  the  language  of 
our  text. 

u  Now,  it  is  certain,  that  this  language  of  the  prophet 
can  have  no  reference  whatever  to  a  general  resurrec- 
tion of  the  literally  dead,  nor  to  a  judgment  day  at  the 
end  of  time  ;  for  all  denominations  grant,  that  Christ, 
20 


230  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSAL1SM. 

instead  of  receiving  his  kingdom  at  the  immortal  resur- 
rection, and  then  commencing  his  reign,  will  deliver  up 
his  kingdom  and  terminate  his  reign.  And,  in  support 
of  it,  they  adduce  the  words  of  Paul  in  1  Cor.  xv.  24. 
1  Then  cometh  the  end,  when  he  shall  have  delivered 
up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the  Father  ;  when  he 
shall  have  put  down  all  rule,  and  all  authority,  and 
power.'  How,  then,  c  in  the  name  of  common  sense,' 
can  the  judgment  in  our  text,  and  the  opening  of  the 
books,  have  the  least  possible  reference  to  what  people 
call  the  last  judgment  day  ?  To  contend  for  this,  is 
not  only  flying  in  the  face  of  Scripture,  but  is  contra- 
dictory to  their  own  opinions.  If  our  text  refer  to  a 
fancied  judgment  at  the  end  of  time,  then  Christ  cannot 
receive  a  kingdom,  nor  be  crowned  King,  till  that  peri- 
od arrives  ;  still,  they  grant,  that  he  now  possesses  a 
kingdom,  and  is  himself  King  of  Kings.  But  we  have 
proved,  that  the  judgment  referred  to  in  our  text,  was 
at  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  when  he  received 
his  kingdom,  (thirty-seven  years  after  his  resurrection,) 
and  not  at  the  termination  of  his  reign. 

u  But  we  are  not  yet  done,  — we  carry  our  subject 
still  further,  guided  by  the  lamp  of  unerring  truth.  We 
will  now  show  you,  that  not  only  the  judgment,  and  the 
delivery  of  those  whose  names  were  written  in  the 
book,  referred  to  in  our  text,  but  the  resurrection  took 
place,  when  the  Jews,  called  the  holy  people,  were 
scattered,  and  when  the  daily  sacrifice,  at  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  temple,  was  taken  away.  John  v.  28,  29. 
'  Marvel  not  at  this  ;  for  the  hour  is  coming,  in  the 
which  all  that  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear  his  voice, 
and  shall  come  forth  ;  they  that  have  done  good  unto 
the  resurrection  of  life,  and  they  that  have  done  evil 
unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation.'  But,  says  the 
hearer,  has  not  this  passage  reference  to  the  last  judg- 
ment day,  when  all  shall  rise  immortal  and  be  judged  ? 
It  has  not  ;  neither  is  there  a  passage  in  the  Book  of 
God,  that  teaches  a  judgment  beyond  the  immortal  res- 
urrection of  the  human  family.  That  this  scripture  has 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          231 

reference  to  the  deliverence  of  the  Jewish  Christians, 
who  were  to  be  raised  from  all  their  persecutions  and 
sufferings  to  an  elevated  state  of  honor,  life,  and  enjoy- 
ment at  the  destruction  of  the  Jewish  state,  —  that  it 
refers  to  the  persons  whose  names  were  written  in  the 
book  of  life,  and  who  had  a  part  in  the  c  first  resurrec- 
tion,' called  c  the  resurrection  of  the  just,'  and  over  whom 
'  the  second  death  had  no  power,'  —  that  it  refers  to  those 
on  the  one  hand,  and  to  the  unbelieving  Jews,  on  the 
other,  who  were  roused  from  their  dark  hiding-places  of 
security,  to  condemnation,  and  consigned  to  a  second  na- 
tional death, — that  this  scripture  has  reference  to  that  pe- 
riod, and  to  those  two  classes  of  characters,  we  will  sub- 
stantiate by  the  oracles  of  truth.  Daniel,  chapter  xii. 
'  And  at  that  time  shall  Michael  stand  up,  the  great 
Prince  which  standeth  for  the  children  of  thy  people  ; 
and  there  shall  be  a  time  of  trouble,  such  as  never  was 
since  there  was  a  nation  even  to  that  same  time  ;  and  at 
that  time  shall  thy  people  be  delivered,  every  one  that 
shall  be  found  written  in  the  book.  And  many  of  them 
that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake,  some  to 
everlasting  life,  and  some  lo  shame  and  everlasting  con- 
tempt." That  this  is  a  parallel  passage  with  that  in 
John,  is,  I  believe,  denied  by  none. 

"  Here,  then,  we  learn,  that  they  were  to  start  out 
of  the  dust,  and  that  all  those  whose  names  were  found 
written  in  the  book  of  life,  were  to  be  delivered,  and 
the  rest  condemned,  at  a  period  when  '  there  shall  be 
a  time  of  trouble,  such  as  there  never  was  since  there 
was  a  nation,  even  to  that  same  time.'  And  Christ, 
himself,  speaking  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
says,  (Matt.  xxiv.  21), — 'For  then  shall  there  be 
great  tribulation,  such  as  was  not  since  the  beginning  of 
the  world  to  this  time,  no,  nor  ever  shall  be.' 

But  let  us  read  on  further  in  Daniel,  chapter  xii. 
4  Then  I,  Daniel,  looked,  and  behold  there  stood  other 
two,  the  one  on  this  side  of  the  bank  of  the  river,  and 
the  other  on  that  side  of  the  bank  of  the  river.  And 
one  said  to  the  man  clothed  in  linen,  which  was  upon 


232  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  waters  of  the  river,  how  long  shall  it  be  to  the  end 
of  these  wonders  ? '  [By  the  wonders,  he  means  the 
time  of  trouble,  the  delivery  of  those  who  are  written 
in  the  book,  and  the  awaking  of  those  who  sleep  in  the 
dust  of  the  earth.  Let  us,  then,  hear  the  answer  to 
this  question.]  '  And  I  heard  the  man  clothed  in  lin- 
en, which  was  upon  the  waters  of  the  river,  when  he 
held  up  his  right  hand  and  his  left  hand  unto  heaven, 
and  swear  by  him  that  liveth  forever,  that  it  shall  be  for 
a  time,  times,  and  a  half;  and  when  he  shall  have  ac- 
complished to  scatter  the  power  of  the  holy  people,  all 
these  things  shall  be  finished.'  [Here,  then,  this  heav- 
enly messenger  has  made  solemn  oath,  that  these  dead 
are  to  awake  out  of  the  dust,  and  that  all  whose  names 
are  written  in  the  book,  are  to  be  delivered  at  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  when  the  Jews,  the  holy  peo- 
ple, were  scattered.  Is  this  angel  a  false  witness  ?  God 
forbid.  But  we  are  not  yet  done  with  this  point.  We 
will  read  on,  and  pile  evidence  on  evidence,  and  let  you 
hear  a  greater  than  this  messenger  settle  the  question.] 
c  And  I  heard,  but  I  understood  not ;  then  said  I,  O 
my  Lord,  what  shall  be  the  end  of  these  things  ?  And 
he  said,  go  thy  way,  Daniel ;  for  the  words  are  closed 
up,  and  sealed  till  the  time  of  the  end.  Many  shall  be 
purified,  and  made  white  and  tried  ;  but  the  wicked 
shall  do  wickedly  ;  and  none  of  the  wicked  shall  under- 
stand ;  but  the  wise  shall  understand.  And  from  the 
time  that  the  daily  sacrifice  shall  be  taken  away,  and 
the  abomination  that  maketh  desolate  set  up,  there  shall 
be  a  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety  days.' 

"  Let  us  now  appeal  to  the  words  of  Christ,  and  hear 
him  settle  the  question.  Matt.  xxiv.  15,  16.  '  When 
ye,  therefore,  shall  see  the  abomination  of  desolation, 
spoken  of  by  Daniel  the  prophet,  stand  in  the  holy 
place,  (whoso  readeth  let  him  understand,)  then  let  them 
which  be  in  Judea,  flee  into  the  mountains.'  Now  here 
Jesus  calls  Daniel  by  name,  quotes  his  words,  and 
points  us  forward  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  for 
their  fulfilment.  The  point  is  then  settled,  that  this  res- 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         233 

urrection,  and  the  deliverance  of  those  written  in  the 
book,  took  place  in  the  generation  Christ  addressed, 
and  when  the  holy  people  were  scattered. 

"  By  the  sea  giving  up  the  dead,  and  death  and  hell 
delivering  up  the  dead  in  them,  we  are  to  understand 
that  no  dark  devices,  nor  secret  hiding-places  could 
protect  the  Jewish  nation  from  that  impending  judgment 
which  God,  in  his  counsels,  had  determined  to  bring 
upon  them.  Their  national  powers  of  darkness  and 
spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places,  were  to  be  made 
manifest  to  all.  They  said  in  their  hearts,  [Isa.  xxviii. 
15,] — '  We  have  made  a  covenant  with  death,  and  with 
hell  are  we  at  agreement ;  when  the  overflowing  scourge 
shall  pass  through,  it  shall  not  come  unto  us  ;  for  we 
have  made  lies  our  refuge,  and  under  falsehood  have  we 
hid  ourselves.7  But  though  they  had  thus  secreted 
themselves,  yet  death  and  hell  delivered  them  up  to  na- 
tional destruction.  Verse  18,  4  Your  covenant  with 
death  shall  be  disannulled,  and  your  agreement  with  hell 
shall  not  stand  ;  when  the  overflowing  scourge  shall 
pass  through,  then  shall  ye  be  trodden  down  by  it.' 
Amos  ix.  3.  c  And  though  they  hide  themselves  in  the 
top  of  Carmel,  I  will  search  and  take  them  out  thence  ; 
and  though  they  be  hid  from  my  sight  in  the  bottom  of 
the  sea,  thence  I  will  command  the  serpent,  and  he 
shall  bite  them.'  The  above  language  is  used  in  refer- 
ence to  the  living,  who  are  represented  as  hiding  them- 
selves under  falsehood  and  lies,  —  as  taking  refuge  in 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  as  making  a  covenant  with 
death  and  hell,  to  protect  them  from  national  ruin,  but  all 
in  vain  ;  our  text  says,  they  were  given  up,  judged  out 
of  the  books,  [the  books  of  the  law,]  and  cast  into  the 
second  death.  They  were  dead  in  sin  ;  and  this  moral 
death  exposed  them  to  national  death.  '  If  ye  believe 
not  (says  Jesus)  that  I  am  he,  ye  shall  die  in  your  sins.' 
This  certainly  cannot  mean,  that  they  should,  in  the  fu- 
ture tense,  die  a  moral  death.  They  were  already  mor- 
ally dead.  But  it  means, — in  the  same  sinful  condi- 
tion you  now  are,  you  shall  die  a  national  death,  because 
20* 


234  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

you  believe  not  that  I  am  he.  To  believe  in  Christ, 
who  is  himself  the  word  of  eternal  life,  is  to  have 
our  names  written  in  the  book  of  life.  Consequent- 
ly, all  the  believing  Jews  escaped  the  second  death, 
to  which  they,  as  a  nation,  were  doomed.  They  fled, 
according  to  the  directions  of  Christ,  to  the  mountains 
of  Judea  for  safety,  till  the  dreadful  siege  was  over. 
Not  a  solitary  Christian  perished  in  that  destruction. 

"  The  hearer  will  bear  in  mind,  that  the  second  death 
and  the  lake  of  fire  are  used  synonymous  in  our  text. 
We  will  here  show,  that  God's  judgments  are  not  un- 
frequently  represented  by  the  figure  of  fire.  Ezek.  xxii. 
19-22.  'Therefore,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  be- 
cause ye  are  all  become  dross,  behold,  therefore,  I  will 
gather  you  into  the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  as  they  gather 
silver  and  brass  and  iron  and  lead  and  tin  into  the  midst 
of  the  furnace,  to  blow  the  fire  upon  it  to  melt  it ;  so 
will  I  gather  you  in  mine  anger  and  in  my  fury,  and  I 
will  leave  you  there,  and  melt  you  ;  yea  I  will  gather 
you,  and  blow  upon  you  in  the  fire  of  my  wrath,  and 
ye  shall  be  melted  in  the  midst  thereof.  As  silver  is 
melted  in  the  midst  of  the  furnace,  so  shall  ye  be  melt- 
ed in  the  midst  thereof ;  and  ye  shall  know  that  I  the 
Lord  have  poured  out  my  fury  upon  you.'  Here  you 
perceive,  that  Jerusalem  is  represented  to  be  a  fiery 
furnace,  in  which  they  were  to  be  melted  as  metal.  But 
by  reading  the  chapter  you  may  learn,  that  it  has  refer- 
ence to  their  overthrow,  as  a  nation,  and  their  disper- 
sion among  the  heathen.  We  will  produce  one  more 
instance,  where  the  Scriptures  represent  a  nation  in 
their  destruction  as  having  their  land  turned  into  a  lake 
of  fire.  Isaiah  xxxiv.  8  —  10.  'For  it  is  the  day  of 
the  Lord's  vengeance  and  the  year  of  the  recompense 
for  the  controversy  of  Zion.  And  the  streams  thereof 
shall  be  turned  into  pitch,  and  the  dust  thereof  into 
brimstone,  and  the  land  thereof  shall  become  burning 
pitch.  It  shall  not  be  quenched  night  nor  day  ;  the 
smoke  thereof  shall  go  up  forever  and  ever  :  from  gen- 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         235 

eration  to  generation  it  shall  lie  waste  ;  none  shall  pass 
through  it  forever  and  ever.'  Here  we  perceive,  that 
the  dust  of  the  land  is  represented  as  turned  into  brim- 
stone, and  all  its  streams  as  rolling  forth  floods  of  boil- 
ing pitch,  and  yet  it  means  nothing  more  than  the  tem- 
poral judgment  of  God  upon  that  people. 

"  Our  text  is  plain,  we  presume,  to  every  hearer,  and 
we  now  dismiss  the  subject.  In  conclusion,  we  simply 
inquire,  are  the  Jews  to  remain  in  this  second  death  ? 
Let  Paul  answer.  Romans  chapter  xi.  '  For  if  the 
casting  away  of  them  be  the  reconciling  of  the  world, 
what  shall  the  receiving  of  them  be,  but  life  from  the 
dead.'  *****  <  For  I  would  not,  brethren,  that  ye 
should  be  ignorant  of  this  mystery,  (lest  ye  should  be 
wise  in  your  own  conceits,)  that  blindness  in  part  is 
happened  to  Israel  until  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be 
come  in,  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved  :  as  it  is  written, 
there  shall  come  out  of  Zion  a  Deliverer  and  turn  away 
ungodliness  from  Jacob.  For  this  is  my  covenant  with 
them  when  I  shall  take  away  their  sins.' 

u  Here  we  have  evidence,  that  these  dead  are  again 
to  be  brought  to  life.  They  are  to  come  forth  from 
their  graves,  —  the  dark  veil  shall  be  rent  from  their 
eyes,  and  '  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  return,  and 
come  to  Zion,  with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their 
heads  ;  they  shall  obtain  joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow 
and  sighing  shall  flee  away.' 

"  From  this  lamentable  catastrophe  of  their  overthrow 
and  dispersion,  and  their  present  unhappy  fate,  as  a  peo- 
ple, let  us  take  warning,  and  not  abuse  the  choice  bless- 
ings God  has  bestowed  upon  us  as  a  nation.  Let  us 
rightly  value  our  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  remem- 
ber, if  we  become  corrupt,  as  a  people,  and  unmindful 
of  that  Being,  who  holds  the  destinies  of  nations  in  his 
hand,  we  too,  shall  be  hurled  from  our  high  station  of 
honor  to  degradation  and  ruin.  Ever  bear  in  mind, 
that  moral  death  is  a  sad  prelude  to  national  death." 


236  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

XCII.  "If  any  man  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  re- 
ceive his  mark  in  his  forehead,  or  in  his  hand,  the  same  shall  drink 
of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God,  which  is  poured  out  without  mix- 
ture into  the  cup  of  his  indignation ;  and  he  shall  be  tormented  with 
fire  and  brimstone  in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  Lamb ;  and  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth 
up  for  ever  and  ever ;  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor  night,  who  wor- 
ship the  beast  and  his  image,  and  whosoever  receiveth  the  mark  of 
his  name."  Rev.  xiv.  9-11.  See  also,  xix.  20,  21.  xx.  10 ;  2  Peter 
ii.  17  ;  Jude,  verse  13. 

The  only  question  we  shall  consider  in  regard  to  this 
passage  is,  does  it  furnish  any  proof  that  mankind  will 
be  punished  in  the  immortal  state  of  existence  ? 

The  beast  spoken  of  in  the  above  passage,  is  evi- 
dently a  figure  of  some  false  object  of  worship.  If  the 
reader  will  examine  Rev.  xix.  20,  21,  he  will  perceive, 
we  think,  that  this  highly  figurative  language  cannot  be 
applied  to  the  future  state.  "  And  THE  BEAST  was 
taken,  and  with  him  the  false  prophet  that  wrought  mir- 
acles before  him,  with  which  he  deceived  them  that  had 
received  the  mark  of  the  beast,  and  them  that  worship- 
ped his  image.  These  both  were  cast  ALIVE  into  a 
lake  of  fire  burning  with  brimstone."  Can  this  be  ap- 
plied to  the  future  state  ?  Certainly  it  cannot  ;  for  the 
succeeding  words  are,  "  And  the  remnant  were  slain 
with  the  sword  of  him  that  sat  upon  the  horse,  which 
sword  proceeded  out  of  his  mouth ;  and  all  the  fowls 
were  filled  with  their  flesh."  Such  language  cannot  be 
applied  to  the  future  state  with  any  show  of  propriety. 

Again,  let  it  be  observed,  that  the  punishment  de- 
scribed in  the  passage  before  us,  is  to  take  place  during 
the  continuance  of  day  and  night.  "  They  have  no 
rest  day  nor  night  who  worship  the  beast  and  his  im- 
age." This  language  seems  to  make  it  certain,  that 
the  punishment  described  was  endured  upon  the  earth. 

It  ought  to  be  observed,  that  the  punishment  is  evi- 
dently suffered  while  the  beast  and  his  image  are  wor- 
shipped. "  The  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up 
forever  and  ever  ;  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor  night, 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         237 

who  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  whosoever 
receivetk  the  mark  of  his  name."  Now  as  no  one  be- 
lieves that  this  beast  will  exist  in  the  immortal  world, 
so  the  punishment  cannot  be  applied  to  that  world. 

The  figures  employed  in  the  above  passage,  are  such 
as  are  customarily  applied  by  the  sacred  writers  to  pun- 
ishment in  this  life,  such  as  the  "  wine  of  God's 
wrath,"  and  the  "  cup  of  his  indignation."  The  judg- 
ments of  God  are  here  represented  as  a  bitter  draught 
that  wicked  men  and  false  worshippers  must  drink  ;  and 
it  requires  but  a  slight  examination  of  the  Scriptures  to 
see,  that  the  sacred  writers  constantly  insist,  that  God 
pours  out  his  indignation  upon  wicked  men  in  this 
world. 

But  it  may  perhaps  be  inquired,  whether  the  wicked 
are  ever  tormented  with  u  fire  and  brimstone"  in  this 
world  ?  We  answer  in  the  affirmative.  Were  not 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  destroyed  by  fire  and  brimstone 
from  the  Lord  out  of  heaven  ?  Have  we  not  shown 
repeatedly,  in  these  pages,  that  fire  is  one  of  the  most 
common  figures  which  the  sacred  writers  employ  to 
represent  the  judgments  of  God  in  this  life  ?  Nothing 
is  susceptible  of  clearer  proof  than  this.  See  Numbers 
xxi.  8  ;  compare  Jer.  xlviii.  45  ;  Psalms  Ixvi.  12  ; 
Ixxxiii.  14  ;  xcvii.  3  ;  Isa.  ix.  19  ;  xlvii.  14  ;  Ixvi.  15, 
16  ;  Jer.  iv.  4  ;  xxi.  12  ;  Lam.  ii.  3,  4  ;  Ezek.  xxi.  31  ; 
xxii.  18-22,  and  a  host  of  others,  that  we  have  not 
room  to  quote. 

But  it  is  supposed  by  many,  that  fire  and  brimstone 
must  surely  belong  to  the  future  state.  Their  visions 
of  hell  in  the  immortal  state,  are  always  associated  with 
"fire  and  brimstone."  But  let  such  examine  the 
following  passages,  and  they  will  see,  that  u  fire  and 
brimstone  "  are  terms  frequently  employed  to  describe 
the  judgments  of  God  in  the  present  life.  Gen.  xix. 
24;  Deut.  xxix.  23;  Job  xviii.  15;  Psalm  xi.  6; 
Isaiah  xxx.  33  ;  xxxiv.  9,  10  ;  Ezek.  xxxviii.  22  ;  Luke 
xvii.  29. 

But  it  may  be  said,  the  punishment  spoken  of  in  the 


238  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

passages  at  the  head  of  this  section,  must  be  in  the  im- 
mortal state,  because  it  is  said  to  endure  forever,  and  for- 
ever and  ever.  We  reply,  that  these  words,  of  them- 
selves, furnish  no  proof  of  strictly  endless  duration  ; 
they  are,  in  the  Scriptures,  applied  again  and  again  to 
temporal  punishments.  We  will  adduce  a  few  passa- 
ges. "  Now  go,  write  it  before  them  in  a  table,  and 
note  it  in  a  book  ;  that  it  may  be  for  the  time  to  come, 
forever  and  ever."  Isaiah  xxx.  8.  The  destruction  of 
Idumea  is  thus  described  :  "  It  is  the  day  of  the  Lord's 
vengeance,  and  the  year  of  recompenses  for  the  contro- 
versy of  Zion.  And  the  streams  thereof  shall  be  turned 
into  pitch,  and  the  dust  thereof  into  brimstone,  and  the 
land  thereof  shall  become  burning  pitch.  It  shall  not 
be  quenched  night  nor  day  ;  the  smoke  thereof  shall  go 
up  forever  •  from  generation  to  generation  it  shall  lie 
waste  ;  none  shall  pass  through  it  forever  and  ever." 
Isaiah  xxxiv.  8-10.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  that  the 
punishments  here  described  were  temporal  punishments  ; 
and  yet  they  are  described  in  almost  the  precise  terms 
that  occur,  Rev.  xiv.  10,  11.  Let  the  reader  also 
consult  Jer.  vii.  1-7.  The  7th  verse  is,  "  Then  will 
I  cause  you  to  dwell  in  this  place,  in  the  land  that  I 
gave  to  your  fathers,  forever  and  ever."  See  also  Jer. 
xxv.  5.  "  Turn  ye  again  now  every  one  from  his  evil 
way,  and  from  the  evil  of  your  doings,  and  dwell  in  the 
land  that  the  Lord  hath  given  unto  you,  and  to  your 
fathers  forever  and  ever." 

XCIII.  "  And  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before  God : 
and  the  books  were  opened ;  and  another  book  was  opened,  which  is 
the  book  of  life  :  and  the  dead  were  judged  out  of  those  things  which 
were  written  in  the  books,  according  to  their  works.  And  the  sea 
gave  up  the  dead  which  were  in  it ;  and  death  and  hell  delivered  up  the 
dead  which  were  in  them :  and  they  were  judged  eyery  man  accord- 
ing to  their  works.  And  death  and  hell  were  cast  into  the  lake  of 
fire.  This  is  the  second  death.  And  whosoever  was  not  found  writ- 
ten in  the  book  of  life  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire."  Rev.  xx. 
12-  15. 

Although  we  have  quoted  at  the  head  of  this  section, 
but  four  verses  of  this  chapter,  we  think  it  will  not  be 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          239 

unprofitable  to  take  a  general  view  of  the  chapter,  and 
to  that  we  shall  now  invite  the  reader's  attention. 

It  appears  to  me,  then,  that  we  may  determine  with 
safety,  that  the  scene  of  the  events  described  in  this  chap- 
ter is  laid  upon  the  earth,  and  does  not  appertain  to  an- 
other state  of  being.  The  angel  mentioned  in  the  first 
verse  came  down  from  heaven.  He  laid  hold  on  the 
dragon,  that  old  serpent,  which  is  the  devil  and  satan ; 
him  of  course  the  angel  found  here  after  he  came  down 
from  heaven  ;  and  he  cast  him  into  the  bottomless  pit, 
which  is  also  represented  as  being  on  earth  ;  for  it  is 
not  said,  that  he  carried  him  away  anywhere  else  to  cast 
him  into  the  bottomless  pit.  Hence  the  scene  is  evi- 
dently laid  on  the  earth.  What  is  said  of  verse  4,  of 
the  souls  of  them  that  were  beheaded  for  the  witness  of 
Jesus,  living  and  reigning  with  Christ  a  thousand  years, 
Dr.  Whitby  understood,  not  of  men  literally  raised 
from  the  dead,  but  of  the  church,  flourishing  gloriously 
for  a  thousand  years  after  the  conversion  of  the  Jews, 
and  the  flowing  in  of  all  nations  to  them  thus  converted 
to  the  Christian  faith.  This  thousand  years,  and  all  the 
events  of  that  time,  are  to  transpire  while  men  live  upon 
the  earth,  for  it  is  said,  verses,  7,  8,  tc  And  when  the 
thousand  years  are  expired,  Satan  shall  be  loosed  out  of 
his  prison,  and  shall  go  out  to  deceive  the  nations  which 
are  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  Gog  and  Ma- 
gog, to  gather  them  together  for  battle,  the  number  of 
whom  is  as  the  sand  of  the  sea.  And  they  went  up  on 
the  breadth  of  the  earth,  and  compassed  the  camp  of 
the  saints  about,  and  the  beloved  city,  and  fire  came 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  and  devoured  them." 

Verse  11.  u  I  saw  a  great  white  throne,"  &c.  It  is 
not  certain  this  is  to  take  place  after  the  thousand  years 
are  finished.  This  throne  was  seen  at  the  same  time 
with  what  is  recorded,  verses  1  and  4.  Verse  1,  he 
says,  "I  saw  an  angel,"  &c.  Verse  4,  "I  saw 
thrones."  "  I  saw  a  great  white  throne."  I  sup- 
pose the  revelator  intended  to  represent  all  these  things 
as  being  present  in  his  vision  at  the  same  time,  so 


240  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

that  we  are  not  to  put  the  events  mentioned  verse  1 1 , 
after  the  thousand  years.  ii  I  saw  a  great  white  throne, 
and  him  that  sat  upon  it,  from  whose  face  the  earth  and 
heaven  fled  away  ;  and  there  was  found  no  place  for 
them."  May  not  this  be  parallel  to  Matt.  xxv.  31  ? 
u  When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  then 
shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory,  and  before  him 
shall  be  gathered  all  nations,"  &c.  We  may  not  im- 
properly term  this  his  mediatorial  throne  ;  and  that  his 
followers  are  to  reign  with  him  on  this  throne,  seems 
evident  from  his  words,  "  ye  which  have  followed  me, 
in  the  regeneration,  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  in  the 
throne  of  his  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones, 
judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel."  Matt.  xix.  28.  In 
this  way  those  who  suffer  with  him,  live  and  reign  with 
him. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  did  the  earth  and  heaven  flee 
away  from  before  the  face  of  the  Son  of  man,  when 
he  sat  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory  ?  Certainly,  the 
first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  passed  away,  to  give  room 
for  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth.  See  Rev.  xxi. 
1,  2.  This  first  heaven  and  first  earth  were  the  religion 
of  the  Jews,  which  passed  away  at  the  very  time  the 
Son  of  God  ascended  the  mediatorial  throne.  Jesus 
declared,  that  when  the  city  and  religion  of  the  Jews 
should  be  destroyed,  then  the  kingdom  of  God  should 
come  with  power,  and  mankind  should  be  rewarded  ac- 
cording to  their  works. 

This  agrees  with  verse  12.  u  And  I  saw  the  dead, 
small  and  great,  stand  before  God  ;  and  the  books  were 
opened,  and  another  book  was  opened,  which  is  the 
book  of  life  ;  and  the  dead  were  judged  out  of  those 
things  which  were  written  in  the  books,  according  to 
their  works."  This  is  precisely  what  is  said  in  other 
parts  of  the  Bible,  to  have  taken  place,  at  the  time  the 
Jews  were  destroyed,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  came 
with  power.  Then,  as  is  said  by  Matthew,  the  Son 
of  man  came  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  and  rewarded 
every  man  according  to  his  works,  xvi.  27,  28. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          24  1 

Should  it  be  inquired  whether  all  men,  small  and 
great,  stood  before  God  at  that  time,  we  reply,  that  they 
did  in  the  same  sense  in  which  all  nations  were  gath- 
ered before  him,  as  is  mentioned  in  the  parable  of  the 
Sheep  and  Goats  (Matt.  xxv.  32).  It  is  not  intended, 
we  apprehend,  that  all  nations  stood  before  God,  in  the 
outward  and  literal  sense  of  that  expression  ;  there  is  no 
necessity  of  our  understanding  the  passage  in  that  way. 
Moses  said  to  the  children  of  Israel ;  "  Ye  stand  this  day, 
all  of  you,  before  the  Lord  your  God  ;  your  captains  of 
your  tribes,  your  elders,  and  your  officers,  with  all  the 
men  of  Israel."  Again  ;  "  Neither  with  you  only  dp  I 
make  this  covenant  and  this  oath  ;  but  him,  that  stand- 
eth  here  with  us  this  day,  before  the  Lord  our  God." 
Deut.  xxix.  10,  14,  15.  See  also  Exodus  xviii.  12  ; 
Joshua  xxiv.  1,  and  many  other  places.  It  was  a  fa- 
vorite mode  of  speech  with  the  Hebrew  writers,  when 
any  thing  was  done  as  a  solemn  duty,  or  by  divine  ap- 
pointment, to  say  that  it  was  done  before  God.  It  was 
said  of  Zacharias  and  Elizabeth,  "that  they  were  both 
righteous  before  God,  walking  in  all  the  commandments 
and  ordinances  of  the  Lord  blameless."  Luke  i.  6. 
And  Paul  charged  Timothy,  before  God  and  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  to  preach  the  word.  2  Tim.  iv.  1. 

What  is  said  of  the  books  which  were  opened,  and 
of  the  book  of  life,  I  see  no  reason  to  understand  lit- 
erally ;  the  expressions  are  a  part  of  the  imagery  of  the 
passage.  If  the  dead  were  judged  according  to  the 
principles  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  the  books  which 
were  opened,  and  out  of  which  they  were  judged,  may 
be  the  books  containing  that  gospel  ;  and  the  book  of 
life  may  be  the  roll  of  Christian  believers,  in  which,  if 
a  man's  name  was  not  found,  he  was  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire. 

Ver.  14.  u  And  deathand  hell  were  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire.  This  is  the  second  death."  Death  and  the 
state  of  immortality  may  at  that  time  be  said  to  have 
been  destroyed,  by  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the 
dead,  and  by  the  certain  establishment  of  his  Gospel  in 

7 


242  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  world.  Let  me  give  the  reader  Dr.  Hammond's 
note  on  this  verse  ;  ct  In  the  fourteenth  verse,  where 
death  and  hades  are  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  ;  that  is, 
death  and  the  state  of  mortality  utterly  destroyed, 
(O  death  I  will  be  thy  death,)  it  is  added,  this  is  the 
second  death  ;  that  is,  mortality  is  utterly  destroyed, 
there  shall  be  no  more  death,  the  life  shall  be  eternal  ; 
so  xxi.  8,  the  lake  that  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone 
(the  utter,  irreversible  destruction,  such  as  fell  on 
Sodom,  called  alavtov  nvy,  eternal  fire,  utterly  consump- 
tive) is  called  the  second  death,  into  which  they  are 
said  to  go,  that  are  never  to  appear  in  the  church 
again."  See  comment  on  Rev.  xx.  6.  This  phrase, 
"  the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,"  is  a  figure  of  speech 
drawn  from  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 
These  cities  were  situated  on  a  low  plain,  and  when 
burned  by  fire  and  brimstone  from  God,  out  of  heaven, 
appeared  to  those  who  saw  the  conflagration  from  the 
mountains  as  a  lake  of  fire.  So  the  burning  of  Mos- 
cow appeared  to  Napoleon,  who  described  it  as  u  an 
ocean  of  flame."  The  site  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
which  was  once  a  lake  of  fire,  is  now  a  lake  of  water, 
called  the  Dead  Sea,  so  complete  was  the  destruction. 
From  these  events,  to  be  cast  into  a  lake  of  fire  and  brim- 
stone, became  a  strong  figure  with  the  Jewish  writers, 
to  signify  utter  destruction.  It  occurs  in  the  following 
places  only  ;  Rev.  xix.  20  ;  xx.  10,  13,  15  ;  xxi.  8. 
And  in  the  verse  before  us,  death  and  hell  were  cast 
into  the  lake  of  fire  ;  that  is,  there  shall  no  more  re- 
main of  them,  than  now  remain  of  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah. This  is  the  second  death,  the  death  of  death, 
the  utter  destruction  of  death,  and  all  that  bears  that 
name.  This  was  accomplished  at  the  time  to  which  we 
refer  the  passage,  inasmuch  as  the  Gospel  was  then  set 
up  ;  Jesus  was  crucified,  he  died  and  rose  from  the 
dead  ;  and  thereby  destroyed  death,  and  him  that  had 
the  power  of  it.  Then  the  resurrection  of  the  human 
race  was  shown  to  be  certain,  and  death  was  shown  to 
be  infallibly,  triumphantly,  and  utterly  done  away. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.         243 

"  O,  the  burst  gates  !  crushed  sting  !  demolished  throne  ! 
Last  gasp  of  vanquished  death.     Shout  earth  and  heaven 
This  sum  of  good  to  man  ;  whose  nature,  then, 
Took  wing,  and  mounted  with  him  from  the  tomb. 
Then,  then  I  rose  ;  then  first  humanity 
Triumphant  passed  the  crystal  ports  of  light, 
(Stupendous  guest !  )  and  seized  eternal  youth, 
Seized  in  our  name.     E'er  since  't  is  blasphemous 
To  call  man  mortal.     Man's  mortality 
Was  then  transferred  to  death  ;  and  heaven's  duration, 
[Inalienably  sealed  to  this  frail  frame, 
This  child  of  dust." 

Ver.  15.  u  And  whosoever  was  not  found  written  in 
the  book  of  life,  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire."  Here 
again  we  have  the  same  figure,  and  it  is  man,  not  death 
and  hell,  that  is  cast  into  the  lake.  We  must  be  care- 
ful not  to  give  it  such  a  construction,  as  will  make  it 
contradict  what  is  declared  in  the  preceding  verses  in 
the  twentieth  chapter,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  twen- 
ty-first. It  is  probable,  that  the  "  book  of  life  "  signi- 
fied the  roll  of  the  followers  of  Christ.  Any  one, 
wishing  to  consult  all  the  passages  in  which  the  phrase 
occurs,  will  find  them  subjoined  ;  Phil.  iv.  3  ;  Rev. 
iii.  5  ;  xiii.  8  ;  xx.  12,  15  ;  xxi.  27  ;  xxii.  19.  The 
person  whose  name  was  not  found  enrolled  among  the 
faithful,  or  in  other  words,  any  one  who  was  not  a  faith- 
ful follower  of  Christ,  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  Tt 
was  so.  The  Jews  were  the  enemies  of  Jesus,  and 
they  were  cast  into  a  lake  of  fire  ;  that  is,  they  were 
utterly  destroyed.  This  punishment,  this  utter  destruc- 
tion, is  described  under  a  variety  of  figures  by  the  differ- 
ent sacred  writers.  Ezekiel  describes  the  Jews  as  being 
thrown  into  a  furnace  of  fire  (xxii.  17—22)  ;  and  our 
Lord  borrows  from  the  prophet  the  same  figure  (Matt, 
xiii.  42,  50).  They  are  compared  to  burning  chaff 
(Matt.  iii.  12).  When  the  Gospel  is  represented  under 
the  figure  of  a  marriage  feast,  given  in  the  night,  in  an 
apartment  splendidly  lighted,  the  unbelieving  Jews  are 
said  to  be  cast  into  outer  darkness,  where  they  weep  and 
gnash  their  teeth  for  anguish  (xxii.  13).  All  these 
figures  signify  the  same  thing,  viz.  that  the  Jews  were 
broken  up,  destroyed,  and  rendered  utterly  and  irrepar- 


244  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  IINIVERSALISM. 

ably  extinct  for  their  sins  and  unbelief,  as  much  so  as 
the  cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  ;  and  in  this  sense 
they  were  cast  into  a  lake  of  fire. 

At  this  time,  let  it  be  remembered,  the  religion  of 
the  Jews,  the  first  covenant,  passed  away,  and  the 
kingdom  of  God  came  with  power.  Such  a  vast 
change  in  the  moral  affairs  of  men  is  described  in  the 
boldest  figures  by  the  New  Testament  writers.  Their 
metaphors  are  of  the  most  striking  character.  The 
heavens  and  the  earth  pass  away,  and  there  is  no  more 
sea.  The  elements  are  said  to  melt  with  fervent  teat  ; 
and  because  of  the  tumult  among  the  nations,  they 
"pass  away  with  a  great  noise."  2  Peter  iii.  10.  It 
is  with  such  glowing  imagery,  that  the  twenty-first  chap- 
ter of  Revelations  breaks  in  upon  us.  "  And  I  saw 
a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  ;  for  the  first  heaven 
and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away  ;  and  there  was 
no  more  sea."  A  new  city  descends  from  heaven. 
"  And  I,  John,  saw  the  holy  city,  new  Jerusalem j 
coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a 
bride  adorned  for  her  husband."  All  agree,  that  this 
relates  to  the  introduction  of  the  gospel  upon  the  earth  ; 
and  we  feel  justified,  therefore,  in  applying  the  events 
described  at  the  close  of  the  twentieth  chapter,  as  hav- 
ing a  close  relation  to  the  opening  of  the  better  dispen- 
sation. 

And  what  did  heaven  proclaim  should  be  the  result 
of  the  introduction  of  the  gospel  ?  Listen  ;  "  I  heard 
a  great  voice  out  of  heaven,  saying  ;  Behold,  the  taber- 
nacle of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them, 
and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God  himself  shall  be 
with  them,  and  be  their  God.  And  God  shall  wipe 
away  all  tears  from  their  eyes  ;  and  there  shall  be  no 
more  death,  neither  sorrow  nor  crying,  neither  shall 
there  be  any  more  pain  ;  for  the  former  things  are 
passed  away."  The  Gospel  is  the  tabernacle  of  God, 
He  dwells  in  it,  and  in  that  Gospel  he  dwells  with  men. 
By  this  covenant,  he  is  their  God,  and  they  are  his 
people.  By  means  of  it,  he  will  wipe  away  all  tears 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          245 

from  their  eyes  ;  he  will  utterly  destroy  death  ;  all  sor- 
row, and  weeping,  and  pain  shall  be  ended,  for  the 
former  things  shall  pass  away.  This  is  the  grand  result 
of  the  Gospel.  It  shall  be  so.  The  word  of  God, 
that  word  which  cannot  fail,  is  pledged  for  it.  God 
hath  sworn  by  himself,  because  he  could  swear  by  no 
greater,  and  pledged  his  infinite  perfections  for  the  ful- 
filment of  his  word.  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest  ! 

XCIV.     Rev.  xxi.  8. 

See  remarks  on  Rev.  ii.  11,  and  xx.  12-15,  Sec- 
tions XCI.  and  XCIII.  of  this  chapter. 

XCV.  "  He  that  is  unjust,  let  him  be  unjust  still ;  and  he  which 
is  filthy,  let  him  be  filthy  still ;  and  he  that  is  righteous,  let  him  be 
righteous  still ;  and  he  that  is  holy,  let  him  be  holy  still."  Rev. 
xxii.  11. 

The  following  remarks,  which  we  copy  from  the 
"  Magazine  and  Advocate,"  are  commended  to  the 
candid  attention  of  the  reader. 

"  This  passage  is  supposed,  by  many,  —  and  is  often 
adduced  for  that  purpose,  —  to  prove,  that  there  can 
be  no  change  in  the  moral  condition  of  man  after  death, 
and  those  who  die  in  a  state  of  rebellion  and  irreconcil- 
iation  to  God,  must  eternally  remain  so.  But  does 
the  text  declare  any  such  thing  ?  or,  can  such  a  senti- 
ment be  fairly  deduced,  or  even  inferred,  from  the  pas- 
sage, taking  the  whole  context  into  the  account  ?  We 
think  not.  There  is  nothing  said  in  the  text  or  context 
about  death  ;  nothing;  said  about  any  resurrection  ;  noth- 
ing said  about  another  state  of  existence  ;  nor  any  thing 
that  would  naturally  lead  the  reader  to  suppose  any 
other  state  but  the  present  was  at  all  referred  to.  The 
whole  scope  of  the  context  would  lead  to  the  supposi- 
tion, that  the  events  spoken  of  were  then  about  to  tran- 
spire. John  was  forbidden  to  seal  the  book,  for  the 
very  reason,  that  the  time  ivas  at  hand. 

"  It  is  a  well  known  fact,  that,  when  important  events 

revealed  through  the  prophets  or  inspired   men  of  old, 

were  not  to  be  fulfilled  or  accomplished  till  some  very 

remote  period,  or  for  a  long  time  after  the  prediction 

21* 


246  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM 

was  made,  the  prophets  were  commanded  to  seal  up  the 
book,  or  the  sayings  thereof,  because  the  time  of  fulfil- 
ment was  distant.  Thus,  in  Dan.  viii.  26,  Gabriel 
says  to  the  prophet,  c  The  vision  of  the  evening  and  the 
morning,  which  was  told,  is  true  ;  wherefore,  shut  thou 
up  the  vision,  for  it  shall  be  for  many  days  ' ;  that  is, 
its  fulfilment  is  to  be  at  a  remote  period.  Again,  xii. 
4,  9,  12,  13  ;  c  Thou,  O  Daniel,  shut  up  the  words,  and 
seal  the  book-)  even  to  the  time  of  the  end.'  c  Go  thy 
way,  Daniel ;  for  the  words  are  closed  up  and  sealed, 
till  the  time  of  the  end.'  '  Blessed  is  he  that  waiteth, 
and  cometh  to  the  thousand  three  hundred  and  five  and 
thirty  days.  But  go  thou  thy  way  till  the  end  be  ;  for 
thou  shall  rest,  and  stand  in  thy  lot  at  the  end  of  the 
days.' 

"  On  the  other  hand,  where  the  events  were  to  take 
place  immediately,  or  very  soon,  the  prophet  was  for- 
bidden to  seal  the  sayings  of  the  book  ;  as  in  the  events 
spoken  of  in  the  text  and  context,  on  which  we  are 
now  remarking.  In  the  verse  preceding  the  text  (10), 
it  is  said  ;  '  Seal  not  the  sayings  of  the  prophecy  of  this 
book  ;  for  the  time  is  at  hand.'  Then,  after  recording 
the  language  of  the  text,  '  He  that  is  unjust,  let  him  be 
unjust  still,'  &c.,  it  is  added  (ver.  12),  '  And  behold, 
I  come  quickly  ;  and  my  reward  is  with  me,  to  give  ev- 
ery man  according  as  his  work  shall  be.'  That  is, 
there  is  a  coming  judgment,  now  at  hand,  that  will  find 
and  deal  with  all,  according  to  the  several  parts  they 
have  acted,  the  sides  they  have  taken,  the  deeds  they 
have  done,  and  the  characters  they  have  formed, 
whether  that  of  an  enemy  or  a  friend  to  the  cause  of 
Christ. 

4  c  We  know  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the 
time  when  this  book  was  written,  and  most  Christians 
date  it  as  late  as  the  year  96.  But  we  are  inclined  to 
the  opinion,  that  it  was  written  considerably  before  that 
time,  even  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  ;  that 
that  important  event  was  then  about  to  take  place  ;  that 
many  of  the  metaphors,  figures,  and  frightful  scenes, 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          247 

relate  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  dispersion 
of  the  Jews,  and  the  great  ecclesiastical  and  civil  revo- 
lutions that  were  contemporary  with  those  events.  The 
very  introduction,  or  exordium,  to  the  book,  would  lead 
one  to  this  conclusion.  Chap  i.  1  —  3  ;  '  The  revela- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ,  which  God  gave  unto  him,  to 
show  unto  his  servants  things  which  must  shortly  come 
to  pass  ;  and  he  sent  and  signified  it  by  his  angel  unto 

his  servant  John Blessed  is  he  that  readeth, 

and  they  that  hear  the  words  of  this  prophecy,  and  keep 
those  things  which  are  written  therein  ;  for  the  time  is 
at  hand.7 

"  Besides  these  considerations,  furnished  by  the  ex- 
ordium to  the  book,  by  the  context  under  notice,  and 
many  other  internal  marks  of  the  book  having  the  same 
bearing,  the  popular  notion  supposed  to  be  coun- 
tenanced by  the  text,  is  wholly  destitute  of  all  sup- 
port from  reason  or  revelation.  If  God  is  the  creator 
and  moral  governor  of  mankind  in  this  life,  is  he  not  as 
much  so  in  the  future  ?  Does  death  dissolve  the  tie 
between  the  creature  and  Creator  ?  or  put  a  period  to 
man's  moral  powers,  or  God's  capacity  to  improve 
them  ?  Must  the  moral  condition  of  all  infants,  idiots, 
Pagans,  Mahometans,  Jews,  &c.,  remain  precisely  the 
same  through  all  eternity  that  it  is  at  the  article  of  death  ? 
If  so,  they  (especially  infants  and  idiots)  can  never 
know  much,  nor,  consequently,  can  they  ever  suffer  or 
enjoy  much  as  moral  beings.  But  does  not  Paul  con- 
tradict this  theory  (1  Cor.  xv.  51),  when  he  declares 
lwe  shall  all  be  changed.'  And  again  (Rom.  xiv. 
8,  9)  ;  '  For  whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord  ; 
and  whether  we  die,  we  die  unto  the  Lord  ;  whether 
we  live,  therefore,  or  die,  we  are  the  Lord's.  For  to 
this  end  Christ  hath  died  and  rose,  and  revived,  that  he 
might  be  Lord  both  of  the  dead  and  living.'  " 


248  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

XCVI.  "  If  any  man  shall  add  unto  these  things,  God  shall  add 
unto  him  the  plagues  that  are  written  in  this  book ;  and  if  any  man 
shall  take  away  from  the  words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God 
shall  take  away  his  part  out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy 
city,  and  from  the  things  which  are  written  in  this  book."  Rev. 
xxii.  18, 19. 

Having  finished  the  prophecies  of  the  book  of  Rev- 
elation, its  author  was  desirous  to  prevent  them  from 
being  corrupted.  For  this  purpose  he  adds,  '*  If  any 
man  shall  add  unto  these  things,  God  shall  add  unto 
him  the  plagues  that  are  written  in  this  book  [of  Reve- 
lations] ;  and  if  any  man  shall  take  away  from  the 
words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God  shall  take 
away  his  part  out  of  the  book  of  life,  [the  roll  of 
Christian  believers,]  and  out  of  the  holy  city,  [the 
Christian  Church,]  and  from  the  things  which  are  writ- 
ten in  this  book,  [viz.  the  blessings  which  are  promised 
to  the  true  and  faithful  disciples.] 

What  are  the  plagues  that  are  written  in  this  book  ? 
Have  we  not  shown  that  they  are  not  to  be  referred  to 
the  immortal  state  ?  See  these  plagues  spoken  of,  ix. 
20,  and  compare  with  the  preceding  part  of  the  chap- 
ter. See  also,  xi.  6,  where  it  is  said  the  two  witnesses 
have  power  "to  smite  the  earth  with  all  plagues."  See 
again,  xvi.  9.  Here  the  plagues  are  spoken  of  once 
more  ;  and  if  the  reader  will  peruse  the  whole  chapter, 
particularly  the  first  verse,  he  will  see  that  these  plagues 
were  poured  out  "  upon  the  earth."  Again,  see  xviii. 
4,  8  ;  and  here  we  are  told,  that  "  her  plagues  come 
in  one  day,  death,  and  mourning,  and  famine  ;  and  she 
shall  be  utterly  burned  with  fire  ;  for  strong  is  the  Lord 
God,  who  judgeth  her."  Were  not  these  plagues  on 
the  earth  ? 

But  let  us  look  once  more.  In  xv.  1,  we  read, 
"  And  I  saw  another  sign  in  heaven,  great  and  marvel- 
lous, seven  angels  having  the  seven  LAST  plagues  ;  for 
in  them  is  FILLED  UP  the  wrath  of  God."  Again,  in 
verse  6,  we  read,  that  "  the  seven  angels  came  out  of 
the  temple  having  the  seven  [last]  plagues."  See  vers. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PASSAGES  EXPLAINED.          249 

7  and  8.  In  the  next  chapter,  [xvi.]  we  read  of  the 
manner  in  which  these  seven  angels  poured  out  the 
seven  ulast  plagues;"  and  a  slight  examination  will 
show,  that  they  were  all  poured  out  upon  the  earth. 
u  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple,  saying 
to  the  seven  angels,  go  your  ways,  and  pour  out  the 
vials  of  the  wrath  of  God  UPON  THE  EARTH."  The 
first  vial  was  poured  out  upon  the  earth,  meaning  the 
land,  verse  2.  The  second  was  poured  out  upon  the 
sea,  verse  3.  The  third  was  poured  out  upon  the  riv- 
ers and  fountains  of  water,  verse  4.  "  The  fourth  an- 
gel poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  sun,"  verses  8,  9. 
"  The  fifth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  seat  of 
the  beast,"  verses  10,  11.  u  The  sixth  angel  poured 
his  vial  upon  the  great  river  Euphrates,"  verses  12—  16. 
"  And  the  seventh  angel  poured  out  his  vial  into  the 
air,"  verses  17-21.  These  were  the  seven  angels 
having  the  seven  last  plagues,  and  this  was  the  manner 
in  which  the  seven  last  plagues  were  poured  out. 

NQW  when  it  is  said,  "if  any  man  shall  add  unto 
these  things,  God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that 
are  written  in  this  book^  —  what  other  plagues  can  be 
referred  to  than  those  which  are  enumerated  above  ? 
And  is  it  not  evident,  that  those  plagues  have  no  refer- 
ence to  the  immortal  existence  ? 

In  the  interpretation  we  have  given  of  this  subject, 
we  are  confirmed  by  two  of  the  best  critics.  Ham- 
mond paraphrases  the  two  verses  as  follows  :  — 

"  As  for  all  those  to  whom  this  prophecy  will  come, 
I  conjure  them  all,  that  they  change  not  a  tittle  of  it, 
and  withal,  that  they  look  upon  it  as  the  last  authoritative 
prophecy  that  is  likely  to  come  from  heaven,  to  be  a 
rule  of  faith  to  the  church.  What  is  here  said,  is  de- 
creed and  settled  immutable  ;  no  man  shall  be  able  to 
avert  it ;  and  whosoever  shall  go  about  to  infuse  any 
other  expectations  into  men  than  what  are  agreeable  to 
these  visions,  God  shall  bring  on  him  the  judgments 
that  are  here  denounced  against  God's  greatest  enemies. 
And  so  in  like  manner,  whosoever  shall  derogate  any 


250  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

thing  from  the  authority  of  this  prophecy,  or  take  out 
any  part  of  it,  or  occasion  men's  not  receiving  the  ad- 
monition of  Christ  here  contained,  in  every  part  there- 
of, God  shall  cast  him  off,  throw  him  out  of  the  church, 
account  him  incapable  of  all  the  blessings,  which  are 
here  promised  to  the  faithful  Christians." 

The  learned  Grotius,  in  his  "Annotations,"  speaks 
as  follows  :  — 

' '  God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues :  by  the 
plagues  are  to  be  understood,  as  well  those  in  chapter 
vii.  ix.  x.  and  xi.,  as  those  in  chapter  xvi.  xvii.  and 
xviii.  ;  of  which  one  portion  relates  to  the  Jews,  and 
the  other  to  the  Roman  empire. 

"  Jlnd  out  of  the  holy  city :  he  shall  not  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church,  but  shall  be  cast  out,  as  one  making 
a  lie." 

To  conclude,  let  me  observe,  that  the  20th  verse 
shows,  that  the  punishments  denounced  in  the  18th  and 
19th  verses  were  of  speedy  accomplishment.  "He 
which  testifieth  these  things  saith,  surely,  I  come  quick- 
ly ;  Amen,  Even  so  come,  Lord  Jesus," 


CHAPTER  VI. 

POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED. 

I.  WE  propose  to  notice  in  this  chapter,  the  most 
common  objections  to  Universalism.  A  series  which 
appeared  in  a  highly  respectable  Orthodox  periodical  in 
Boston,  a  few  years  since,  will  be  made  the  basis  of 
this  chapter.  We  prefer  this  method,  that  the  objec- 
tions may  appear  in  the  language  of  the  objector,  and 
thereby  be  given  in  their  full  force. 

II.  "  Universalism  is  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  common  pru- 
dence. Prudence  says,  Always  take  the  safe  side  of  a  question. 
But  it  is  not  safe  to  adopt  Universalism  ;  for  if  it  be  not  true,  —  and 
it  may  not  be,  then,  trusting  to  it,  I  shall  lose  my  soul.  Whereas,  if 
it  be  true,  and  I  adopt  the  contrary  belief,  I  am  nevertheless  safe." 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  251 

This  is  the  old  argument,  which  has  been  answered 
time  after  time.  It  is  to  be  presumed,  that  partialists 
never  read  the  writings  of  Universalists  ;  for,  in  that 
case,  they  would  be  unwilling  to  bring  forward  an  argu- 
ment which  has  been  fairly  and  repeatedly  refuted. 
The  argument  before  us,  is  based  on  the  safety  of  be- 
lieving in  endless  misery.  The  believer  in  endless 
misery,  it  is  thought,  suffers  no  disadvantage,  and  is 
exposed  to  no  danger  ;  for  if  Universalism  is  true,  he 
is  as  safe  as  anybody  else  ;  but  if  the  doctrine  of  end- 
less misery  be  true,  what  will  become  of  the  Univer- 
salist  ?  The  question,  then,  with  the  partialist  is  not, 
which  doctrine  is  best  sustained  by  evidence,  but  which 
is  it  safest  to  believe  ?  We  say,  it  is  the  safest  to  be- 
lieve the  truth ;  and  the  primary  question,  before  which 
every  other  dwindles  into  nothing,  is  this,  —  which  of 
these  doctrines  is  true  ?  We  will,  however,  waive  the 
primary  question,  and  inquire  which  it  is  the  safest  to 
believe  ?  But  is  there  not  something  unphilosophical 
in  this  question  ?  A  man's  belief  is  here  represented 
as  something  he  can  manage  at  his  pleasure  ;  it  is  sup- 
posed he  can  believe  any  thing  or  every  thing  ;  and  if 
he  thinks  that  it  is  safer  to  believe  one  thing  than  anoth- 
er, he  will  believe  it.  We  see  nothing  here  like  reason 
or  good  sense.  A  man's  belief  is  governed  by  evi- 
dence ;  and  whether  it  is  safe  to  believe  a  proposition, 
can  have  no  influence  at  all  on  him  in  forming  his  reli- 
gious opinions.  The  argument,  then,  under  considera- 
tion is  an  unphilosophical  one,  that  no  man,  in  the 
exercise  of  good  sense,  would  bring  forward. 

If  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery  should  at  last  prove 
true,  (God  forgive  the  supposition,)  we  see  no  reason 
why  the  believer  in  that  doctrine  would  not  as  likely  be 
lost,  as  the  sincere  Universalist.  It  certainly  cannot 
excite  anger  in  God  for  men  to  believe  Him  better  than 
he  really  is  ;  and  how  it  will  recommend  a  man  to 
God's  favor  to  attribute  to  Him  the  disposition  of  a 
demon,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  As  to  this 
life,  the  believer  of  Universalism  has  the  advantage 


252  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

over  every  man  in  the  world.  He  is  filled  with  joy  and 
peace  in  believing.  Death,  to  him,  is  the  passport, 
not  to  eternal  nothingness,  nor  eternal  torture,  but  to 
immortality  and  incorruption.  Whereas,  a  man  who 
believes  in  the  orthodox  doctrines  of  the  day,  if  he 
have  the  common  feelings  of  humanity,  must  find  his 
bosom  wrung  with  the  keenest  anguish. 

The  primary  question  with  the  Universalist  is,  what 
has  God  revealed  in  his  word  ?  To  this  standard  we 
bow  implicitly.  The  true  sense  of  this  book  is'  the 
only  true  orthodoxy  we  know  of.  If  our  opponents  will 
convince  us,  by  arguments  drawn  from  this  book,  that 
their  doctrines  are  true,  we  shall  feel  ourselves  com- 
pelled to  receive  them  ;  but,  until  they  do,  they  may 
rest  satisfied,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  retain  our  present 
opinions. 

III.  "  If  I  become  a  Universalist,  I  must  reject  the  evidence 
arising  from  the  general  apprehensions  of  the  Christian  world ;  and 
that,  too,  when  it  should  have  the  greatest  possible  weight  in  every 
candid  mind.  With  comparatively  few  exceptions,  the  inhabitants 
of  Christendom  have,  for  eighteen  hundred  years,  embraced  the  doc- 
trine of  a  future  and  eternal  punishment ;  and  all  this  time  the 
strongest  feelings  of  the  natural  heart  have  been  enlisted  against  it. 
So  that '  it  is  next  to  a  miracle,  that  the  Christian  world  should,  for 
so  many  ages,  embrace  the  doctrine  of  future  punishment,  and  re- 
ject that  of  universal  salvation,  had  not  the  doctrine  of  universal 
salvation  been  most  evidently  false,  and  that  of  future  punishment 
most  evidently  true.1  " 

Is  this  argument  sound  ?  Is  the  believer  in  endless 
misery  satisfied  with  it  ?  The  Pope's  supremacy  has 
been  as  generally  acknowledged,  as  the  doctrine  of 
endless  misery  ever  was.  Will  the  man  who  penned 
the  above  argument,  accede  to  the  Pope's  claims  ? 
Will  he  say,  "  with  comparatively  few  exceptions,  the 
inhabitants  of  Christendom  have,  for  eighteen  hundred 
years,  embraced  the  doctrine  of  the  Pope's  supremacy, 
and  transubstantiation,  and  all  this  time  the  strongest 
feelings  of  the  natural  heart  have  been  enlisted  against 
it.  So  that  it  is  next  to  a  miracle,  that  the  Christian 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS 

world  should,  for  so  many  ages,  embTS^^rfii^  doctrine 
of  the  Pope's  supremacy,  and  reject  the  contrary,  had 
not  the  contrary  been  most  evidently  false,  and  that  of 
the  Pope's  supremacy  true,"  —  will  he  say  this  ?  No, 
he  will  not.  Then  he  himself  acknowledges  that  his 
argument  is  good  for  nothing.  If  he  will  go  into  China, 
or  any  other  heathen  land,  he  may  use  the  same  argu- 
ment in  defence  of  idolatry  ;  at  Constantinople,  the 
same,  in  principle,  may  be  set  up  in  defence  of  Ma- 
hometanism.  That  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery  was 
held,  without  exception,  in  the  dark  ages  of  the  church, 
is  no  argument  in  its  favor.  The  Universalist  alleges, 
and  is  able  to  prove,  that  the  doctrine  he  holds,  was 
taught  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  by  some  of  the 
most  eminent  Christian  Fathers  immediately  succeeding 
the  apostles  ;  that  it  was  not  for  two  or  three  centuries, 
that  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery  was  unquestionably 
declared;  that  the  two  contrary  sentiments  existed  in 
the  church  for  a  long  time,  without  being  made  a  matter 
of  reproach  on  either  hand  ;  and  that,  when  the  doctrine 
of  Universalism  was  first  condemned,  it  was  done  by 
wicked  men,  whose  hearts  were  filled  with  enmity 
against  those  who  held  that  doctrine,  and  who  were 
plotting  their  destruction.  Of  these  very  important 
facts  there  is  the  fullest  evidence.  For  additional  in- 
formation on  the  subject,  we  refer  the  reader  to  the  first 
chapter  of  this  work. 

IV.  "  Adopting  the  sentiments  of  Universalism,  I  cannot  account 
for  that  deep  solicitude  which  Christ  and  his  apostles  manifested  for 
the  salvation  of  immortal  souls.  That  they  were  deeply  solicitous 
for  the  salvation  of  their  hearers,  admits  not  of  doubt  or  dispute. 
But  why  should  they  have  been  so,  if  all  were  sure  of  heaven  ? " 

This  is  mere  sophistry.  That  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles were  solicitous  for  the  salvation  of  their  hearers, 
and  of  all  mankind,  the  Universalist  has  no  desire  to 
dispute  ;  but  it  belongs  to  the  partialist  to  prove,  that 
they  were  solicitous  to  save  men  from  eternal  hell  tor- 
ments in  the  future  state.  Now  the  truth  is,  we  do  not 
22 


254  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

read  one  word  in  the  Bible  about  saving  men  from 
punishment  in  the  future  state.  Jesus  was  anxious  to 
save  people  from  their  sins,  and  their  errors,  and  bring 
them  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  He  was  anxious 
to  save  the  Jews  from  the  awful  judgments  which  were 
impending  over  them,  and  all  the  apostles  partook  of 
the  same  solicitude.  Paul  says,  (Gal.  i.  4,)  that  Jesus 
gave  himself  for  our  sins,  that  he  might  deliver  us  from 
"  this  present  evil  world."  The  evils  from  which 
Jesus  came  to  save  men  are  in  this  world,  and  for  this 
reason  he  came  into  this  world  to  save  them.  We 
challenge  those  who  believe  in  endless  misery,  to  pro- 
duce a  single  passage  in  which  salvation  from  hell  tor- 
ments in  the  future  state  is  spoken  of.  The  Universa- 
list  feels  a  like  solicitude,  with  that  possessed  by  Christ 
and  his  apostles  ;  and  our  "  heart's  desire  and  prayer 
to  God  is,"  that  men  may  be  brought  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  truth.  We  have  seen  too  often  the  dreadful 
effects  resulting  from  endless  misery,  to  be  indifferent 
on  this  subject.  We  have  known  people  grievously 
tormented  with  the  fear  of  being  cast  off  forever,  so 
much  so,  that  at  times  they  have  been  actually  insane  ; 
and  not  a  few  cases  of  suicide  have  resulted  from  this 
cause.  Universalists  feel  the  deepest  solicitude  to  save 
men  from  these  errors,  and  bring  them  to  the  knowledge 
of  "the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus."  Now,  on  the  same 
principle  on  which  our  opposing  brethren  can  account 
for  the  solicitude  of  Universalists,  let  them  account  for 
the  solicitude  of  Christ  and  his  apostles. 

When  we  see  the  deep  misery  and  heartfelt  anguish 
which  a  sincere  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  endless  tor- 
ment occasions,  the  heart  bleeds  for  the  unhappy  suffer- 
ers, and  we  pray  God  most  earnestly  that  they  may  be 
saved  from  the  influence  of  such  a  faith.  We  have 
deep  solicitude  for  the  salvation  of  such  persons  from 
the  afear  that  hath  torment,"  1  John  iv.  18  ;  and  we 
desire  that  they  may  be  brought  to  enjoy  the  same  faith 
which  the  apostle  Peter  cherished  when  he  said,  u  be- 
lieving, we  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  255 

glory,"  1  Peter  i.  8.  He,  certainly,  could  not  have 
believed  in  eternal  torments.  The  evils  which  have 
been  produced  by  an  unshaken  faith  in  endless  torments, 
are  absolutely  indescribable.  We  will  give  one  or  two 
instances,  but  a  large  number  must  be  omitted  for  a 
want  of  room. 

We  call  the  reader's  attention  to  a  paragraph  in  the 
sermon  preached  a  few  years  since,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Ten- 
ney,  of  Weathersfield,  Connecticut,  at  the  funeral  of 
the  late  Dr.  Austin,  for  many  years  pastor  of  the  elder 
orthodox  society  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts.  It 
shows,  clearly  and  forcibly,  th6  oppressive  and  un- 
wholesome tendency  of  those  views  of  the  divine  char- 
acter and  government,  which  Dr.  Austin  was  well 
known  to  entertain.  We  publish  the  extract  as  a  warn- 
ing, —  a  solemn  warning,  —  and  as  a  tangible  and  in- 
controvertible evidence,  that  there  is  no  comfort  nor 
solace  to  be  derived  from  the  doctrine  of  endless 
misery. 

"  But  for  the  last  three  or  four  years,  a  thick  and 
dark  cloud  has  hung  over  the  course,  and  enveloped  in 
dismay  the  mind,  of  our  revered  friend.  He  lost  nearly 
all  hope  of  his  own  reconciliation  to  God  and  interest 
in  the  Redeemer.  He  sunk  into  a  settled,  deep,  reli- 
gious melancholy,  which  occasionally  appeared  in  par- 
oxysms of  despair  and  horror.  His  bitter  moanings 
were,  at  times,  sufficient  to  wring  with  sympathetic  an- 
guish the  most  unfeeling  heart." 

Dr.  Austin  for  a  long  time  before  his  death,  was  in 
a  state  little  short  of  madness  ;  *  and  we  do  not  see 
what  is  to  hinder  that  effect  in  a  man  who  sincerely  be- 
lieves in  endless  misery,  and  applies  his  doctrine  to 
himself.  The  same  remark  may  be  made  concerning 
the  celebrated  Dr.  Bellamy,  well  known  as  an  orthodox 
divine.  Cowper,  also,  the  beautiful  poet,  it  is  well 
known,  more  than  once  attempted  to  destroy  his  life 
through  the  influence  of  religious  melancholy.  "  He 

*  See  "  Unitarian  Advocate,"  for  July,  1831. 


256  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

was  led  into  a  deep  consideration  of  his  religious  state  ; 
and,  having  imbibed  the  doctrine  of  election  and  repro- 
bation, in  its  most  appalling  rigor,  he  was  led  to  a  very 
dismal  state  of  apprehension.  We  are  told,  "  that  the 
terror  of  eternal  judgment  overpowered  and  actually 
disordered  his  faculties ;  and  he  remained  seven  months 
in  a  continual  expectation  of  being  instantly  plunged 
into  eternal  misery."  *  Although  he  at  times  recovered 
from  this  dreadful  depression,  he  at  last  sunk  under  it, 
being  gradually  worn  out,  and  he  expired  upon  his  bed. 

This  subject  brings  to  mind  the  exclamation  of 
Saurin,  the  celebrated  French  divine.  After  having 
preached  a  long  discourse  in  support  of  endless  mis- 
ery, he  breaks  out  in  the  following  touching  peroration  : 
"  I  sink  !  I  sink  under  the  awful  weight  of  my  subject ; 
and  I  declare,  when  I  see  my  friends,  my  relations,  the 
people  of  my  charge,  this  whole  congregation  ;  when  I 
think  that  I,  that  you,  that  we  are  all  threatened  with 
these  torments  ;  when  I  see  in  the  lukewarmness  of  my 
devotions,  in  the  languor  of  my  love,  in  the  levity  of 
my  resolutions  and  designs,  the  least  evidence,  though 
it  be  only  presumptive,  of  my  future  misery,  yet  I  find 
in  the  thought  a  mortal  poison,  which  diffuseth  itself  in- 
to every  period  of  my  life,  rendering  society  tiresome, 
nourishment  insipid,  pleasure  disgustful,  and  life  itself  a 
cruel  bitter.  /  cease  to  wonder,  that  the  fear  of  hell 
hath  made  some  mad  and  others  melancholy." 

May  we  not,  then,  have  u  deep  solicitude  "  that 
mankind  may  be  delivered  from  a  faith  whose  effects 
are  so  appalling  ? 

V.  "  On  this  ground,  I  cannot  account  for  the  bitter  opposition 
which  the  wicked  exhibited  to  the  preaching  of  Christ  and  his  apos- 
tles. If  in  their  preaching  they  advocated  the  doctrine  that  all  will 
be  saved,  why  did  they  meet  with  persecution  and  distress  from 
wicked  men  ?  No  one  can  tell." 

If  Christ  and  his    apostles   preached   Universalism, 

*  See  the  new  "  Encyclopedia  Americana,"  art.  Cowper,  and  Cow- 
per's  "  Private  Correspondence  with  his  most  intimate  friends^  edited 
after  the  life  by  Haley,  by  his  relative  Johnson." 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  257 

the  objector  finds  it  difficult  to  account  for  the  opposi- 
tion with  which  they  met.  Now,  we  say,  this  is  some- 
what remarkable.  Do  not  Universalists,  now,  preach 
the  salvation  of  all  mankind  ?  Certainly.  And  what 
sect  is  opposed  with  more  bitterness  than  they  ?  The 
very  reason  why  Christ  was  opposed  by  wicked  men, 
was,  because  he  preached  an  impartial  doctrine.  Self- 
righteous  sinners,  such  as  opposed  Jesus  and  his  apos- 
tles, always  did  hate,  and  always  will  hate,  that  which  is 
impartial.  All  this  the  blessed  Saviour  most  carefully 
pointed  out  to  them.  In  the  parable  of  the  laborers  in 
the  vineyard,  some  are  represented  as  murmuring  against 
"  the  good  man  of  the  house,"  because  he  gave  to  ev- 
ery man  a  penny.  This  was  treating  all  alike  ;  and  this 
instructive  parable  Jesus  uttered  to  reprove  those  wicked 
men,  who  found  fault  with  the  impartiality  of  his  doc- 
trine. To  the  same  purpose  was  the  parable  of  the 
prodigal  son  spoken.  The  elder  son  murmured,  — 
that  self-righteous  sinner,  who,  in  his  own  estimation, 
had  never  done  any  thing  evil  in  his  life.  What  did  he 
murmur  at  ?  Because  the  sinner  was  received  to  favor. 
The  apostle  Paul  tells  us,  that  he  labored  and  suffered 
reproach  because  he  u  trusted  in  the  living  God,  who  is 
the  Saviour  of  all  men,  especially  of  them  who  be- 
lieve ? " 

This  was  the  very  reason  why  he  was  opposed,  and 
reproached,  because  he  believed  in  Universalism  ;  and 
trusted  in  God  as  the  Saviour  of  all  men. 

Is  it  asked,  why  the  wicked  should  oppose  Christ 
because  he  preached  that  they  should  be  saved.  We 
answer,  because  he  preached  that  every  one  else  should 
be  saved  also.  It  was  for  this  reason,  that  he  "  endured 
contradiction  of  sinners."  And  why  do  the  wicked 
now  oppose  the  same  blessed  doctrine  ?  For  the  same 
reason  ;  because  it  assures  them,  that  others  are  to  be 
saved  as  well  as  they.  This  is  the  secret.  Human 
pride  revolts  at  Universalism  ;  it  always  opposed  it, 
and  it  always  will.  This  doctrine  is  congenial  only  to 
22* 


258  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

the  humble  mind  ;  and  gives  happiness  only  to  those 
whose  hearts  are  contrite  and  benevolent. 

VI.  "  The  preaching  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  often  excited  deep 
anxiety  in  the  impenitent  to  secure  the  salvation  of  their  souls. 
How  can  we  account  for  this  fact,  if  their  preaching  made  them  sure 
of  heaven?  " 

This  objection  is  stated  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  con- 
vey a  fallacious  idea  to  the  mind.  We  say,  then,  and 
we  defy  contradiction,  that  a  single  case  cannot  be 
found  in  the  Scriptures,  of  persons  being  desirous  to 
save  themselves,  either  their  souls  or  their  bodies,  from 
hell  torments  in  the  future  state  of  existence.  In  re- 
gard to  the  future,  and  in  regard  to  God's  care  of  men, 
the  preaching  of  Jesus  always  had  a  tendency  to  in- 
spire confidence,  not  anxiety.  Read  the  sixth  chapter 
of  Matthew,  particularly  the  latter  part  of  it.  How 
kindly  and  ingeniously  does  the  Saviour,  in  that  sublime 
passage,  reason  men  into  confidence  in  God.  He  re- 
buked them  for  their  distrust.  He.  pointed  them  to 
"  the  birds  of  the  air,"  and  uthe  lilies  of  the  field," 
—  the  one  bountifully  fed,  and  the  other  beautifully 
clothed,  without  any  anxiety  on  their  part.  From  this 
he  reasoned  as  follows  :  u  If  God  so  clothe  the  grass 
of  the  field,  which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into 
the  oven,  shall  he  not  much  more  clothe  you  ?  "  This 
was  the  strain  of  Christ's  preaching  ;  and  he  closed  it, 
on  that  occasion,  by  saying,  (as  the  passage  is  better 
translated,)  u  Take,  therefore,  no  thought  for  the  future, 
for  the  future  shall  take  thought  for  the  things  of  itself. 
Sufficient  unto  present  time  is  present  evil."  Jesus 
preached  to  the  Jews,  that  they  were  in  imminent  dan- 
ger of  the  judgments  with  which  God  was  about  to  visit 
their  nation,  and  on  this  account  the  anxiety  of  many 
was  excited  ;  but  on  no  occasion  did  Jesus  or  his  apos- 
tles cause  people  to  believe,  that  they  were  in  danger 
of  hell  torments  in  the  future  existence. 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  259 

VII.  'Many,  who  once  advocated  universal  salvation,  have  since 
confessed,  that  when  they  were  strongest  in  the  belief  of  the  senti- 
ment, they  had  many  doubts  and  misgivings,  and  were  secretly  con- 
vinced, that  it  could  not  be  true.  Many,  who  have  tried  to  be  Univer- 
salists,  have  afterwards  testified,  that,  after  their  most  strenuous  efforts 
to  believe  that  doctrine,  they  could  not  convince  themselves  of  its 
truth.  How  could  this  be,  were  it  plainly  taught  in  the  pages  of  rev- 
elation, and  consonant  with  the  deductions  of  right  reason  ?  " 

Now  we  must  confess,  that  we  call  this  very  unsatis- 
factory. "  Many  who  have  advocated  Universalism,  have 
confessed,  that  when  they  were  strongest  in  the  belief 
of  the  sentiment,  they  had  many  doubts  and  misgiv- 
ings." How  could  they  be  said  to  be  strong  in  the 
belief  of  the  sentiment,  if  they  had  many  doubts  ?  And 
yet  we  are  told,  that  these  people,  who  believed  Univer- 
salism, when  they  were  strongest  in  the  belief  of  the 
sentiment,  not  only  had  many  doubts  and  misgivings, 
but  "  were  secretly  convinced,  that  it  could  not  be  true." 
This  is  what  we  call  a  paradox.  Again,  —  u  Many  who 
have  tried  to  be  Universalists,"  it  is  said,  "have  after- 
wards testified,  that,  after  their  most  strenuous  efforts  to 
believe  the  doctrine,  they  could  not  convince  themselves 
of  its  truth."  And  what  does  this  prove  ?  Perhaps 
it  proves,  that  they  had  not  got  the  eyes  of  their  under- 
standing enlightened  ;  we  do  not  think  it  proves  any 
thing  more.  Let  us  turn  the  tables.  u  Many  who  have 
tried  to  be  Calvinists,  have  afterwards  testified,  that,  af- 
ter their  most  strenuous  efforts  to  believe  that  doctrine, 
they  could  not  convince  themselves  of  its  truth."  And 
here  we  may  repeat  the  objector's  pungent  question  : — 
"  How  could  this  be,  were  it  plainly  taught  in  the  pages 
of  revelation,  and  consonant  with  the  deductions  of  right 
reason  ? "  It  is  well  known  to  be  a  fact,  that,  many 
people  of  candid,  generous,  and  discriminating  minds, 
have  searched  the  Scriptures  carefully  and  prayerfully, 
from  day  to  day,  and  from  week  to  week,  with  no  oth- 
er desire  than  to  learn  what  is  therein  revealed,  and 
have,  by  this  process,  become  fully  convinced,  that  the 
doctrine  of  Universalism  is  a  doctrine  of  the  Holy 


260  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

Scriptures.  u  How  could  this  be,  were  it  "  NOT  a  plain- 
ly taught  in  the  pages  of  .revelation,  and  consonant  with 
the  deductions  of  right  reason  ?  " 

VIII.  "  Universalists.  themselves    seem  to  be  doubtful  of  their 
own  cause.     Otherwise,  why  are  they  so  anxious  to  make  proselytes, 
to  erect  meeting-houses,  to  have  preaching,  and   to  prop  up  their 
cause  by  increasing  their  numbers  ?     If  their  doctrine  be  based  upon 
the  truth,  what  matter  is  it  whether  others  believe  or  disbelieve  it? 
They  will  all  meet  in  heaven,  to  go  no  more  out  forever  !" 

It  appears  from  this,  that  if  a  sect  are  cc  anxious  to 
make  proselytes,  to  erect  meeting-houses,  to  have 
preaching,  and  to  prop  up  their  cause  by  increasing  their 
numbers,"  then  they  u  seem  to  be  doubtful  of  their 
own  cause."  What  is  the  unavoidable  inference  from 
this  ?  Answer.  That  the  opposers  of  Universalism 
are  u  doubtful  of  their  own  cause,"  for  none  are  more 
anxious  than  they  "to  make  proselytes,  to  erect  meet- 
ing-houses, to  have  preaching,  and  to  prop  up  their 
cause  by  increasing  their  numbers."  They  believe,  or, 
at  least,  the  author  of  this  objection  does,  in  predesti- 
nation, and  in  the  election  of  some  to  eternal  life,  and 
the  reprobation  of  others  to  eternal  damnation.  u  If 
this  doctrine  be  based  upon  the  truth,  what  matter  is  it 
whether  others  believe  it,  or  disbelieve  it."  Their  fate 
is  irrevocably  fixed. 

IX.  "  It  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  advocates  of  Universalism  are 
mostly  to  be  found  in  that  class  of  people  which  the  Bible  denomin- 
ates wicked;  while  nearly  all  the  wise  and  good  adopt  the  contrary 
belief.     The  intemperate,  the  thief,  the  robber,  the  profane  swearer, 
the  murderer,  the  corrupt  and  dissolute,  are  generally  pleased  with 
the  preaching  of  Universalists  ;  but  the  pious  and  the  better  portion 
of  community  deprecate  the  influence  of  such  preaching.     I  like  the 
society  of  the  wise  and  good,  better  than  that  of  thieves,  and  drunk- 
ards, and  profane  swearers." 

It  would  be  well  for  us  all,  if  we  would  be  much 
on  our  guard  against  the  sin  of  self-righteousness.  It  is 
a  sin  that  doth  most  easily  beset  us.  vV^e  fear,  that  the 
author  of  this  objection,  doubtless  unconsciously  to  him- 
self, was  under  the  influence  of  some  such  error.  Did 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  261 

he  not  entertain  a  high  opinion  of  himself  ?  Is  it  not 
arrogating  too  much  to  himself,  and  those  who  agree 
with  him  in  opinion,  to  say,  u  nearly  all  the  wise  and 
good  "  adopt  the  belief  of  endless  misery  ?  Is  such  a 
profession  consistent  with  the  spirit  which  led  the  pub- 
lican to  exclaim,  "  Lord,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner  ? " 
It  rather  reminds  us  of  the  case  of  the  Pharisee, 
who  said  u  Lord,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  like  other 
men."  But  are  the  allegations  true,  which  are  embrac- 
ed in  this  objection  ?  That  those  who  really  feel  them- 
selves to  be  sinners,  and  see  their  need  of  divine  grace 
and  salvation,  will  prize  the  doctrine  of  Universalism, 
is  unquestionable  ;  but  this  is  not  what  the  objector 
means.  He  means,  that  those  who  have  no  contrition 
for  their  offences,  —  the  thoughtless,  the  cruel,  and  the 
debauched,  are  generally  in  favor  of  Qniversalism.  In 
this  sense  the  objection  is  false.  Is  it  true,  that  the 
wicked  are  generally  Universalists  ?  Is  it  true,  that 
those  who  take  the  name  of  God  in  vain,  —  those  who 
are  intemperate,  —  those  who  are  debauched,  are  gen- 
erally Universalists  ?  Examine  the  penitentiaries.  In- 
quire into  the  religious  opinions  of  the  prisoners  ;  and  in 
the. great  majority  of  cases,  you  will  find,  that  they  have 
been  educated  in  the  belief  of  endless  torments.  It  is 
true,  they  have  not  paid  much  attention  to  the  subject 
of  theology,  in  any  way  ;  but,  so  far  as  they  believe  in  the 
future  state,  they  generally  apprehend,  that  the  doctrine 
of  endless  misery  is  true.  Were  those  who  have  car- 
ried on  persecution,  —  who  have  kindled  the  fagot, — 
who  have  shed  rivers  of  human  blood,  —  who  have  mur- 
dered men,  and  women,  and  children,  indiscriminately, 
in  their  attempts  to  exterminate  heresy,  —  have  these 
men  been  Universalists  ?  No  instance  of  persecution 
can  be  pointed  out,  in  all  the  history  of  the  church,  which 
can  be  justly  attributed  to  those  who  believe,  that  God 
will  at  last  have  mercy  on  all.  Who  were  the  inquisi- 
tors,—  those  who  loved  to  feast  their  eyes  on  writh- 
ing bodies,  and  to  gratify  their  ears  with  the  groans 
and  unavailing  prayers  of  the  poor  victims  of  their 


262  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNTVERSALISM. 

wrath  ?  Were  these  men  Universalists  ?  No,  not  one 
of  them ;  for,  had  they  been,  their  doctrine  would  have 
taught  them  better  ;  they  would  have  had  compassion 
on  the  ignorant,  and  those  who  are  out  of  the  way.  It 
is  a  truth,  which  a  strict  observation  of  society  will 
confirm,  that  Universalism  prevails  mostly  in  those 
places  where  crime  is  least  known.  Compare  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  our  own  country,  with  one  another,  and 
then  inquire  in  which*  parts  Universalism  mostly  pre- 
vails. Compare  our  own  country  with  Europe,  and  the 
above  remark  will  be  fully  proved.  It  cannot  be  said, 
in  truth,  that  Universalism  is  principally  to  be  found 
among  those  who  are  justly  denominated  the  vicious. 

We  have  already  hinted  at  the  fact,  that  those  who 
really  feel  their  sinfulness,  and  are  exercised  with  con- 
trition for  their  offences,  will  love  the  doctrine  of  Uni- 
versalism. Such  loved  the  doctrine  of  Jesus,  when 
he  was  on  earth.  The  publicans  and  sinners  drew 
near  unto  him  to  receive  his  instructions,  and  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  murmured,  because  he  u  re- 
ceived sinners  and  ate  with  them." 

X.  "  Universalism  is  most  obviously  of  a  corrupt  moral  tenden- 
cy. Its  fundamental  truth  is,  Ml  are  sure  of  heaven.  Believing 
this,  men  may  act  out  the  corruptions  of  a  depraved  heart  without 
fear  of  retribution,  and  of  course,  without  much  restraint.  I  cannot 
believe,  that  the  religion  which  opens  the  door  of  crime  and  blood 
is  from  heaven."  * 

Universalism  is  not  most  obviously  of  a  corrupt 
moral  tendency.  We  offset  one  assertion  against 
another.  One  important  truth  embraced  by  Universal- 
ists is,  that  all  men  shall  be  rewarded  according  to 
their  works ;  that  the  punishment  of  sin  is  not  delayed 
until  the  future  existence,  but  that  it  is  swift,  sure,  and 
inevitable  ;  that  sin  goes  hand  in  hand  with  woe  through- 
out its  whole  duration  ;  that  it  is  itself  hell,  into  which 
the  sinner  cannot  plunge,  without  feeling  its  flames  and 
torments.  In  regard  to  retribution,  such  is  the  doc- 
trine of  Universalists.  We  must  again  contradict  the 
author  of  the  objections,  and  say,  "  Believing  this, 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  263 

men"  cannot  "  act  out  the  corruptions  of  a  depraved 
heart  without  fear  of  retribution."  So  far  from  de- 
stroying the  fear  of  retribution,  Universalism  quickens 
it,  by  showing  that  the  punishment  of  sin  cannot  be 
avoided.  But  some  attempt  to  prove,  that  sinners  es- 
cape punishment  in  this  life,  and  are  oftentimes  happier 
than  the  righteous.  This,  this  is  the  doctrine  which 
will  cause  men  to  "  act  out  the  corruptions  of  a  de- 
praved heart,  without  fear  of  retribution."  Here  we 
may  apply  the  closing  words  of  the  objection  :  u  I 
cannot  believe,  that  the  religion  which  opens  the  door 
of  crime  and  blood  is  from  heaven." 

Those  who  insist,  that  Universalism  is  of  a  "  cor- 
rupt moral  tendency,"  ought  to  account  for  two  things. 
First,  how  it  happens  that  Universalists,  at  the  present 
time,  are  as  good  as  other  people.  Second,  how  it 
took  place,  that,  in  the  dark  ages,  when  the  doctrine 
of  endless  misery  found  not  a  solitary  being  to  question 
its  correctness,  people  were  more  wicked  than  they 
ever  were  before,  or  ever  have  been  since.  The  ob- 
jection before  us  ought  never  again  to  be  brought  for- 
ward, until  these  two  facts  are  satisfactorily  accounted 
for. 

XI.  "  The  Bible,  on  almost  every  page,  contemplates  mankind 
as  divided  into  two  classes,  the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  It  de- 
clares, that  the  distinction  exists  between  them  now,  that  it  will 
exist  at  the  hour  of  death,  before  the  throne  of  final  judgment,  and 
through  every  period  of  their  existence.  I  cannot  reconcile  this 
with  Universalism." 

That  the  Bible  speaks  of  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked,  the  Universalist  most  cheerfully  allows  ;  but 
that  the  sacred  writers  contemplated  mankind  as  di- 
vided into  two  distinct  classes,  is  not  correct.  By  the 
righteous,  are  meant  such  as  do  righteousness.  u  He 
that  doeth  righteousness  is  righteous."  1  John  iii.  7. 
There  is  no  man  perfectly  righteous.  "  There  is  none 
righteous,  no  not  one."  Rom.  iii.  10.  "  There  is 
not  a  just  man  upon  the  earth,  that  doeth  good  and 
sinneth  not."  Eccles.  vii.  20.  This  surely  does  not 


264  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

favor  the  idea  of  two  distinct  classes  among  mankind. 
The  same  man  may  be  righteous  at  one  time  and 
wicked  at  another.  Whenever  men  do  righteousness, 
they  are  said  to  be  righteous  ;  and  whenever  they  do 
wickedness,  they  are  said  to  be  wicked.  This  is  the 
only  sense  in  which  the  righteous  and  wicked  are  men- 
tioned in  the  Bible.  After  making  his  statement,  con- 
cerning his  imagined  two  classes,  the  objector  gives  us 
a  sweeping  assertion,  in  which  he  is  kind  enough  to 
embrace  the  whole  ground  of  the  controversy,  and  by 
which  he  settles  it  all  at  once.  He  "declares,  that 
the  distinction  between  them  exists  now,  that  it  will 
exist  at  the  hour  of  death,  before  the  throne  of  final 
judgment,  and  through  every  period  of  their  existence." 
This  settles  the  whole  matter.  But  then  we  inquire, 
What  authority  has  this  man  to  assert  these  things  ? 
It  is  certain,  that  the  Bible  does  not  contain  a  word  in 
support  of  that  assertion  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
stands  in  contradiction  to  the  objection.  It  is  a  matter 
of  small  importance  to  us,  whether  this  writer  can  rec- 
oncile Universalism  with  his  notions.  "  The  Bible, 
the  Bible  alone,  is  the  religion  of  Protestants,"  said 
the  immortal  Chillingworth  ;  and  the  Bible  does  not 
support  the  doctrine  of  distinctions  among  mankind, 
either  in  the  grave  or  beyond  it.  Of  the  dead,  the 
Scriptures  say,  u  All  go  unto  one  place."  Eccles. 
iii.  20.  Speaking  of  the  resurrection,  Paul  says,  u  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  1  Cor.  xv.  22. 
Where,  then,  are  the  two  classes  ?  Continuing  the  same 
subject,  this  apostle  declares,  u  So  also  is  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead  :  it  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is 
raised  in  incorruption  :  it  is  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is 
raised  in  glory  :  it  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in 
power :  it  is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spirit- 
ual body."  1  Cor.  xv.  42-44.  Is  the  notion  of 
two  classes  after  the  resurrection  compatible  with  this 
language?  "  We  shall  all  be  changed."  ver.  51. 
u  The  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible."  ver.  52. 
Could  any  careful  person  gather  from  this  language  the 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  265 

notion,  that  there  will  be  two  classes  of  mankind,  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked,  after  the  resurrection?  It  is 
in  vain  to  pretend  it. 

XII.  "  If  I  become  a  Universalist,  I  must  believe,  that  mankind 
receive  their  total  amount  of  punishment  in  this  life.  Whereas, 
Scripture,  reason,  and  fact  unite  in  testifying,  that  this  is  not  the 
truth.  Scripture  declares,  that  one  event  happeneth  to  the  righteous 
and  the  wicked,  —  'that  God  maketh  the  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil 
and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust,'  — 
and  also  inquires,  '  Wherefore  doth  the  way  of  the  wicked  pros- 
per ? '  Observation  and  facts  teach  us,  that,  if  any  thing  which 
men  suffer  in  this  life  may  properly  be  called  punishment,  many  of 
the  most  profligate  and  abandoned  receive  the  least  of  it." 

There  is  a  glaring  contradiction  in  this  objection, 
which  shows  that  the  writer  knew  little  about  his  sub- 
ject, and  which  destroys,  of  course,  the  little  proof 
he  supposed  his  objection  to  possess.  In  the  first  place, 
he  says  the  Scripture  declares,  "  that  one  event  hap- 
peneth to  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,"  and  yet  he 
says,  before  he  closes  his  objection,  that  many  of  the 
most  profligate  and  abandoned  receive  the  least  pun- 
ishment in  this  life.  The  objector  has  fairly  out- 
reached  himself ;  for  a  reasonable  man  would  ask,  how 
the  wicked  could  suffer  much  less  than  the  righteous 
in  this  life,  if  one  event  happens  to  both  ? 

The  objector  declares,  that  the  wicked  are  not  fully 
punished  in  this  life,  and  infers  from  this  fact,  that  they 
will  be  punished  hereafter.  He  saith,  the  Scriptures 
prove  that  men  are  not  punished  sufficiently  on  earth. 
We  are  compelled  to  declare,  that  the  whole  evidence 
of  Scripture  is  on  the  contrary  side.  The  sacred 
waiters  use  the  figures  of  sowing  and  reaping  to  rep- 
resent the  unavoidable  connexion  between  sin  and 
misery :  "  Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  also  shall 
he  reap ;"  and  hence  the  recompense  of  the  sinner  is 
called  "  the  fruit  of  his  doings."  Now  to  say  that 
man  shall  sin  on  the  earth,  and  suffer  the  recompense 
in  some  other  state  of  being,  is  alike  reasonable  with 
saying,  that  a  man  who  sows  a  field  of  grain  in  Massa- 
23 


266  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

chusetts  shall  reap  the  harvest  in  some  other  State. 
The  Bible  saith,  "  He  that  soweth  to  the  flesh,  shall 
of  the  flesh  reap  corruption."  He  proceeds,  — 

"  This  argument  failing  me,  I  must, — 

XIII.  "  Base  my  belief  on  the  universality  of  Christ's  atone- 
ment.    Because  the  atonement  is  sufficient  for  all,  I  must  argue  that 
all  will  be  saved.     Whereas,  the  truth  is,  that,  though  all  who  will, 
may  be  saved,  yet  he  who  will  not  believe,  shall  be  damned." 

In  the  fact  that  Christ  died  for  all  men,  this  writer 
sees  no  proof  that  all  men  will  be  saved.  Those  who 
will,  he  thinks,  may  be  saved,  but  those  who  will  not 
must  be  lost  forever.  This  is  a  rather  unfortunate 
proposition  for  the  Hopkinsians,*  for  they  have  gen- 
erally taught,  that  those  shall  be  saved  who  are  willing 
to  be  damned.  A  man  must,  at  the  same  time,  have 
a  willingness  to  be  damned  and  a  desire  to  be  saved, 
according  to  this  writer's  theology.  Now  we  believe, 
that,  as  Jesus  Christ  died  for  all  men,  so  all  men  will 
be  saved.  "  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul, 
and  shall  be  satisfied."  Isaiah  liii.  11.  Jesus  pred- 
icated the  salvation  of  all  men,  of  the  fact  of  his  dying 
for  all. — "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth, 
will  draw  all  men  unto  me."  John  xii.  32.  This 
certainly  assures  us  of  the  salvation  of  all  men  ;  for  he 
that  cometh  to  Christ  shall  not  be  cast  out.  See  John 
vi.  37.  Men  will  not  be  forced,  they  will  be  drawn ; 
they  will  not  be  dragged  to  heaven  against  their  wills, 
for  the  people  of  Christ  shall  be  willing  in  the  day  of 
his  power.  u  The  heathen  are  his  inheritance,  and 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  are  his  possession." 

XIV.  "  God  wills,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  salvation  of  all,  and  is 
able  to  do  whatsoever  his  soul  desireth,  therefore  all  will  be  saved. 
But  I  know,  that,  although  God  wills,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  holi- 
ness, repentance,  and  faith  of  all,  and  is  able  to  effect  all  that  he 
designs  to  do,  yet  many  are  unholy,  impenitent,  and  unbelieving. 
My  argument,  therefore,  will  not  stand  the  test  of  vigorous  exam- 
ination." 

*  The  author  of  these  objections  was  a  very  zealous  Hopkin- 
sian. 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  267 

Here  the  objector  slips  over  an  argument  very  easily, 
that  he  seems  unwilling  to  stop  and  examine  at  length. 
The  argument  of  the  Universalist  is  this,  that  as  God 
wills  the  salvation  of  all  men,  and  is  able  to  do  all  his 
pleasure,  all  men  will  be  saved.  The  objector  avoids  the 
argument,  by  saying,  that  God  now  wills  the  salvation, 
repentance,  and  faith  of  all,  yet  all  do  not  repent.  But 
the  objector  does  not  believe,  that  God  wills  determi- 
nately,  that  any  thing  shall  take  place  at  any  time,  which 
does  not  take  place  at  that  time.  He  does  not  now  be- 
lieve, that  God  wills  men  should  repent,  believe,  and 
be  saved,  any  further  than  they  do  repent,  believe,  and 
be  saved.  He  believes,  as  well  as  the  Universalist, 
that  the  will  of  God  is  done,  on  earth,  and  in  heaven. 
And  he  believes,  furthermore,  that  God's  will  shall  be 
done,  as  much  in  the  eternal  damnation  of  those  who 
may  be  lost,  as  in  the  eternal  happiness  of  those  who 
may  be  saved.  The  only  question,  therefore,  that  re- 
mains to  be  settled  between  him  and  the  Universalist, 
is,  whether  God  wills  the  salvation  of  all  men.  This 
he  will  not  have  courage  to  deny,  in  the  face  of  the 
plainest  declarations  of  the  divine  word.  "  God  will 
have  all  men  to  be  saved,"  saith  Paul  to  Timothy. 
This  will  of  God  cannot  fail,  for  u  he  doeth  his  will  in 
the  armies  of  heaven,  and  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
earth  ;  none  can  stay  his  hand,  or  say  unto  him,  why 
doest  thou  so  ?  "  Dan.  iv.  35.  This  is  the  will  of 
God,  which  Jesus  came  to  accomplish.  u  Lo,  I  come 
to  do  thy  will,  O  God."  Heb.  x.  7.  And  to  show, 
that  he  had  secured  the  accomplishment  of  the  divine 
will,  Jesus  declared,  "  I  have  finished  the  work  which 
thou  gavest  me  to  do."  John  xvii.  4. 

XV.  "  Universalists  deny,  that  there  is  a  day  of  general  judgment 
to  come,  and  contend  that  it  is  already  past ;  that  of  course,  there  is  no 
hell,  no  place,  of  punishment,  consequently,  no  punishment  after 
death.  But  God  has  declared,  '  It  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to 
die,  but  after  this  the  judgment.'  '  The  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which 
all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  shall  come  forth  ; 
they  that  have  done  good,  unto  the  resurrection  of  life ;  and  they  that 


268  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

have  done  evil,  unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation.'  These  passages 
are  plain  and  explicit ;  they  admit  of  no  evasion.  If  language  can 
teach  it,  we  are  here  taught,  that  there  will  be  a  day  of  general  judg- 
ment, and  that  some  shall  find  life,  while  others  shall  be  condemned.' 

The  Universalist  does  not  deny  the  scriptural  doc- 
trine of  a  day  of  judgment  ;  he  does  not  say,  u  there 
is  no  hell,"  "  no  place  of  punishment."  The  Univer- 
salist  does  not,  indeed,  believe  in  endless  punishment  ; 
but  every  thing  said  in  the  Bible  about  judgment,  or 
hell,  or  punishment,  he  believes  as  a  verity.  The 
Universalist  does  not  misapply  those  passages  in' which 
these  solemn  subjects  are  spoken  of ;  he  endeavours  to 
understand  them  in  their  true  and  proper  sense.  The 
objector  did  not  use  due  care  in  quoting  one  of  the  pas- 
sages qn  which  he  so  confidently  relies  ;  he  has  put  it 
into  a  shape  to  suit  himself.  He  says,  God  has  de- 
clared, "  It  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after 
this  the-  judgment."  He  has  clipped  this  passage  at 
both  ends,  and  entirely  altered  its  sense.  See  Heb. 
ix.  27,  28.  The  death  here  spoken  of,  the  objector 
applies  to  all  men  ;  whereas,  the  apostle  had  reference 
to  the  sacrificial  death  of  the  high  priests  under  the  law, 
with  which  he  was  comparing  the  sacrificial  death  of 
Christ.  This,  any  person  will  perceive  at  once  who 
will  read  the  whole  passage.  u  And  AS  it  is  appointed 
unto  men  once  to  die,  and  after  this  the  judgment,  so 
Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many." 
Why  are  the  particles  as  and  so  here  used,  if  the  apostle 
was  not  making  a  comparison  between  the  death  of  the 
men  spoken  of,  and  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  When 
the  high-priest  died  figuratively,  in  his  sacrifice,  for  the 
sins  of  Israel,  he  afterward  came  out  of  the  holy  of  ho- 
lies, bearing  the  judgment  of  the  children  of  Israel  upon 
his  breast.  See  Exodus  xxviii.  29,  30.  Hence,  the 
apostle  says,  u  as  it  is  appointed  unto  men  [the  high 
priests]  once  to  die  [in  their  sacrifice],  and  after  this 
the  judgment  [which  they  bore  upon  their  breasts]  ;  so 
Christ  was  once  offered  [that  is,  in  a  sacrificial  manner] 
to  bear  the  sins  of  many." 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  269 

Nor  has  this  writer  perverted  less  a  passage  which 
may  be  found  in  John  v.  28,  29.  Here  the  Saviour 
was  speaking  of  a  figurative  resurrection,  which  was 
then  about  to  take  place  ;  but  the  objector  applies  this 
passage  to  the  future  resurrection  of  all  men  into  another 
state  of  existence.  And  yet  the  Saviour  was  particular 
to  declare,  that  the  hour  then  was,  when  that  resurrec- 
tion should  take  place.  See  the  25th  verse.  "Ver- 
ily, verily,  I  say  unto  you,  the  hour  is  coming,  AND  NOW 
is,  when  the  dead  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of 
God,  and  they  that  hear  shall  live."  How  any  man, 
who  will  carefully  read  the  fifth  chapter  of  John,  can 
apply  the  Saviour's  language,  in  this  instance,  to  the 
future  resurrection  of  men  into  the  immortal  state,  we 
are  totally  unable  to  perceive. 

XVI.  "  Universalists  argue,  that,  though  it  may  be  true  that  all 
the  impenitent  and  unbelieving  will  suffer  eternal  punishment,  yet 
all  will  repent  and  believe,  and  therefore  be  saved.  Could  I  only 
believe  this,  I  should  have  no  difficulty  in  becoming  a  thorough-going 
Universalist.  But  my  own  observation  has  taught  me,  that  many 
have  died  impenitent  and  unbelieving;  and  Scripturq  renders  the  in- 
structions of  observation  certain.  It  cannot  be,  therefore,  that  all 
will  be  saved  on  this  ground." 

That  all  will  at  last  repent,  and  believe,  the  objector 
cannot  admit.  If  he  could  believe  it,  he  u  should  have 
no  difficulty  in  becoming  a  thorough-going  Universal- 
ist." No\v,  that  all  mankind  will  at  last  believe  the 
gospel,  the  Bible  does  explicitly  declare.  u  All  the  ends 
of  the  earth  shall  remember,  and  turn  unto  the  Lord." 
Ps.  xxii.  27.  "  All  nations,  whom  thou  hast  made, 
shall  come  and  worship  before  thee,  O  Lord,  and  glo- 
rify thy  name."  Ixxxvi.  9.  "  I  have  sworn  by  myself, 
the  word  has  gone  out  of  my  mouth  in  righteousness, 
and  shall  not  return,  that  unto  me  every  knee  shall  bow, 
every  tongue  shall  swear,  surely  shall  say,  in  the  Lord 
have  I  righteousness  and  strength."  Isa.  xlv.  23,  24.  If 
every  individual  shall  swear  that  in  the  Lord  he  has 
righteousness  and  strength,  all  must,  in  that  case,  be- 
lieve the  Gospel.  St.  Paul  declares,  that  "every 
23* 


270  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

tongue  shall  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father."  Phil.  ii.  11.  This  is  the 
true  gospel  confession  ;  and,  if  made  by  every  tongue, 
as  the  apostle  declares  it  shall  be,  all  must  then  believe 
the  Gospel.  Now,  when  the  objector  puts  forth  ob- 
jections to  this  doctrine,  he  opposes  a  doctrine  of  the 
word  of  God.  He  tells  us,  that,  from  his  own  obser- 
vation, he  knows  that  some  do  not  believe  in  this  life. 
We  answer  in  the  words  of  Paul  ;  "  For  what  if  some 
did  not  believe  ?  Shall  their  unbelief  make  the  faith 
of  God  without  effect  ?  God  forbid."  Rom.  iii.  3,4. 
In  regard  to  the  future  condition  of  mankind,  the  Bible 
declares  explicitly,  that  all  shall  ultimately  know  God, 
*c  from  the  least  to  the  greatest."  Jer.  xxxi.  34  ; 
Heb.  viii.  11.  The  proofs  we  have  selected  from  the 
multitude  of  texts  which  might  be  brought  forward,  are 
sufficient  to  establish  that  fact  in  any  reasonable  per- 
son's mind.  The  whole  body  of  texts  adduced  by  us 
in  Chapter  III.  bear  with  great  force  on  this  point. 
All  objections  made  to  that  doctrine,  are  objections 
against  the  word  of  God  ;  and  if  men  have  any  system 
of  divinity,  any  preconceived  notions  which  they  cannot 
reconcile  to  it,  we  advise  them  to  examine  themselves, 
and  see  if  there  be  not  a  deep-rooted  opposition  in  their 
own  hearts  to  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  love  of 
creeds  blinds  the  human  understanding.  This  is  the 
reason  why  men  cannot  see,  that  "  the  restitution  of 
all  things  "  hath  been  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  God's 
holy  prophets  since  the  world  began  ;  and  on  this  prin- 
ciple we  may  account  for  the  formidable  objections, 
which  they  think  they  discover  against  that  great  and 
glorious  truth. 

XVII.  "  Universalists  contend,  that  there  is  another  state  of  pro- 
bation, in  which  these,  who  leave  this  world  unprepared  for  heaven, 
will  repent  and  believe  in  Christ,  and  be  saved.  But  we  read  noth- 
ing of  another  state  of  probation.  On  the  contrary,  the  whole  tenor 
of  Scripture,  the  whole  course  of  divine  providence,  the  grand  result 
to  which  all  things  are  evidently  rolling  onward,  as  well  as  several 
explicit  declarations  of  divine  truth,  utterly  forbid  the  supposition. 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  271 

And  even  if  it  were  admitted,  that  God  has  instituted  another  state 
of  trial,  I  could  have  but  slight  evidence  to  believe,  that  those,  who 
neglect  the  day  and  means  of  grace  on  earth,  would  be  likely  to  se- 
cure the  interest  of  their  souls  in  hell.  For  what  Bible  will  they  have 
in  that  world  of  woe, —  what  kind  of  preachers,  —  what  means  of 
religious  instruction,  —  what  day  of  grace, —  what  strivings  of  the 
Holy  Spirit, —  what  way  in  which 

*  To  'scape  from  hell  and  fly  to  heaven  ? ' 
None,  none.     How,  then,  can  they  be  saved  ?  " 

What  is  there  in  this  objection  beside  mere  assertion  ? 
Who  says  the  present  state  is  a  state  of  probation  ? 
Answer.  The  writer  of  the  objections  before  us.  Does 
the  Bible  say  so  ?  No.  But  provided  this  is  a  state 
of  probation,  who  says  the  next  will  not  be  equally  a 
state  of  probation  ?  Answer.  The  writer  of  the  ob- 
jections. Does  the  Bible  say  so  ?  No.  He  says 
the  whole  tenor  of  Scripture  ;  he  says  the  whole 
course  of  divine  providence  ;  he  says  the  grand  result 
to  which  all  things  are  evidently  rolling  onward,  as  well, 
he  says,  as  several  explicit  declarations  of  divine  truth, 
utterly  forbid  the  supposition,  that  men  may  repent  and 
believe  in  Christ  hereafter.  Does  the  Bible  say  so  ? 
No.  Why  did  he  not  quote  some  of  those  u  explicit 
declarations  "  ?  Why  did  he  not  at  least  give  us  one  ? 
Again,  this  writer  says,  if  God  were  to  attempt  to  save 
men  in  the  world  to  come,  he  would  not  succeed  any 
better  than  he  does  in  this  world  ;  for  those  who  neg- 
lect the  day  and  means  of  grace  on  earth  would  neglect 
them  in  a  future  state.  Does  the  Bible  say  this  ?  No. 
The  Bible  saith  no  such  thing.  And,  as  though  men 
are  to  be  brought  to  know  God  in  the  world  to  come, 
by  the  ordinary  means,  he  inquires  what  Bible,  and  what 
preachers  they  are  to  have  in  the  next  world  ? 

In  regard  to  all  these  questions  concerning  the  future 
state,  the  Universalist  has  a  short  answer  only  to  give. 
The  ground  of  our  faith  is  the  New  Testament.  This 
assures  us,  that  "  in  the  resurrection  men  shall  be  as 
the  angels  of  God  in  heaven."  Matt.  xxii.  30  ;  that 
"  the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible  ;"  that  the 


272  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

ic  sting  of  death,  which  is  sin,  shall  be  destroyed,  and 
that  God  shall  be  all  in  all."  1  Cor.  xv.  28,  52,  55. 
Destroy  this  foundation,  and  we  fall ;  but,  while  this  re- 
mains, our  faith  is  indestructible. 

XVIII.  "I  cannot  be  a  Universalist,  because,  after  a  somewhat 
extended  and  candid  examination,  I  find,  that  the  whole  current  of 
Scripture  is  in  favor  of  eternal  punishment.  If  Universalism  be 
true,  it  appears  to  me,  that  the  word  of  God  must  be  false.  I  cannot 
for  example,  if  Universalism  be  true,  see  any  force  or  significance  in 
that  very  affecting  account  of  the  general  judgment,  which  Matthew 
has  given  us  in  the  25th  chapter  of  his  Gospel.  I  cannot  tell  what 
to  make  of  several  of  the  parables  uttered  by  our  Saviour.  The  par- 
able of  the  tares  and  wheat ;  of  the  net  that  gathered  of  every  kind; 
and  others,  together  with  the  account  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus, 
which,  if  they  prove  any  thing,  most  certainly  inculcate  the  doctrine 
of  eternal  punishment.  The  case  of  Judas,  too,  who,  being-perdi- 
tion's son,  went  to  his  own  place,  seems  to  me  to  be  proof  positive, 
that  at  least  one  individual  will  be  miserable  forever.  But  I  must 
not  particularize  ;  for,  as  I  said  before,  the  whole  current  of  Scripture 
is  obviously  opposed  to  Universalism." 

The  objector  here  says,  the  "whole  current"  of 
Scripture  is  in  favor  of  eternal  punishment.  This, 
again,  is  an  assertion,  and,  as  such,  is  of  no  avail.  We 
say,  the  whole  current  of  Scripture  is  against  eternal 
misery,  and  now  we  are  even  with  the  objector,  on  the 
score  of  assertions.  If  Universalism  be  not  true,  it 
appears  to  us,  that  the  word  of  God  must  be  false.  If 
Universalism  is,  true,  the  writer  professes  not  to  be  able 
to  see  any  force  or  significance  in  the  parable  of  the 
sheep  and  goats,  which  he  calls  a  "  very  affecting  ac- 
count of  the  general  judgment."  Here,  again,  he  be- 
trays his  ignorance  of  Scripture.  Now,  if  he  will 
remember  two  things,  we  will  put  him  in  the  way  of  un- 
derstanding the  parable  of  the  sheep  and  goats.  1st.  If 
he  will  look  at  Matt.  xxv.  31,  he  will  perceive,  that 
this  parable  was  to  be  fulfilled  at  the  coming  of  Christ ; 
and,  2d,  if  he  will  examine  Matt.  xvi.  27,  28  ;  Mark 
viii.  33,  and  ix.  1  ;  Luke  ix.  26,  27,  he  will  perceive, 
that  this  coming  of  Christ  was  to  take  place  during  that 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CGNSIEERED.  273 

generation  whom  he  addressed.  See,  also,  Matt.  x. 
23  ;  xxiii.  36  ;  xxiv.  34  ;  and  John  xxi.  22.  These 
Scriptures  are  worth  a  thousand  mere  assertions.  As 
to  the  parables  of  the  "  tares  and  wheat,"  and  of  "  the 
net,"  that  gathered  of  every  kind,  they  had  their  fulfil- 
ment at  the  same  time.  If  he  will  take  his  Greek  Tes- 
tament, and  turn  to  Matt.  xiii.  39,  40,  and  49,  he  will 
perceive,  that  both  these  parables  were  verified  at  the 
"  end  of  the  ouwY,"  rendered  u  world,"  in  our  version, 
which  was  fully  completed  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem. See  1  Cor.  x.  11  ;  Heb.  ix.  26  ;  1  John  ii.  18. 
In  regard  to  the  account  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus, 
it  is  a  parable  ;  and,  in  its  literal  sense,  is  not  true,  any 
more  than  the  parable  in  Judges  ix.,  of  the  trees  going 
forth  to  choose  a  king.  The  truth  in  this,  as  in  all 
parables,  is  to  be  sought  under  the  figure.  The  Jews, 
in  the  time  of  Christ,  had  imbibed  some  of  the  absurd 
notions  concerning  Elysiurn  and  Tartarus  ;  and  Jesus 
used  these  notions  in  a  parable,  to  illustrate  the  impor- 
tant truths  he  desired  to  communicate.  Poor,  unfortu- 
nate Judas  is  brought  up  in  the  last  place,  to  sustain  the 
objector's  cause.  This  writer  tells  us,  that  Judas  "  went 
to  his  own  place."  These  words,  however,  were  not 
spoken  of  Judas,  but  of  Matthias,  who  "went  to  his 
own  place,"  in  the  apostleship,  from  which  Judas,  by 
transgression  fell.  The  verse  a  little  transposed  will 
make  the  sense  perfectly  evident.  That  he  [Matthias] 
may  take  part  of  this  ministry  and  apostleship  ;  that  he 
[Matthias]  might  go  to  his  own  place,  from  which  Ju- 
das, by  transgression,  fell. 

We  come  now  to  the  last  objection  of  the  series.* 

*  The  above  series  of  objections  was  drawn  up  by  the  once  Rev. 
Moses  Thatcher,  editor  of  the  "Boston  Telegraph,"  a  spirited  par- 
tialist  journal,  published  in  Boston.  They  were  much  talked  of  at 
the  time,  as  being  absolutely  unanswerable.  We  have  preferred  to 
make  them  the  basis  of  this  chapter,  that  the  language  of  a  real  ob- 
jector inijrht  be  used,  and  thus  the  objections  be  stated  in  full  force. 
The  melancholy  truth  is  well  known  to  the  public,  that  since  Mr. 
Thatcher  published  these  objections,  and  endeavored  to  fasten  on 
Universalism  the  charge  of  exerting  a  dangerous  influence  on  public 


274  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

XIX.     "I  cannot  be  a  Universalist,  for  I  fear  that  the  doctrine 
would  fail  me  at  the  hour  of  death. 

*  A  death  bed  's  a  detecter  of  the  heart.' 

Many  who  have  believed  this  doctrine  while  in  health  and  prosperi- 
ty, have,  when  approaching  the  grave,  found  it  to  be  a  false  and  an 
unsafe  foundation  ;  have  been  obliged  to  relinquish  it,  and  to  cry  out 
for  mercy.  I  cannot  embrace  a  doctrine  which  serves  its  advocates 
in  this  manner.  A  doctrine  which  affords  hope  and  consolation  when 
we  are  in  health,  and  enjoying  the  pleasure  of  the  world,  but  with- 
draws its  support  when  we  most  need  it,  is  not  the  doctrine  which  a 
prudent  man  would  wish  to  believe." 

There  is  no  force  in  this  objection.  It  is  not  true 
that  people  renounce  Universalism  when  they  come  to 
die.  Do  we  not  hear  every  day  of  people  dying  while 
they  rejoice  in  that  glorious  faith  ?  and  have  we  not 
often  heard  of  those  who  renounced  the  doctrine  of 
endless  misery  in  prospect  of  death,  and  embraced 
Universalism  ?  Facts  do  most  fully  set  aside  the  ob- 
jection before  us.  Behold  the  death  of  the  celebrated 
John  Murray,  the  early  defender  .of  Universalism  in  the 
United  States.  In  the  last  hour  he  dwelt  with  rapture 
on  the  inspiring  theme  which  had  animated  his  soul  for 
more  than  half  his  days,  and  on  which  he  had  expatia- 
ted with  such  great  effect  in  hundreds  of  pulpits 
throughout  the  land.  See  the  edition  of  his  life  by 
T.  Whittemore,  p.  222.  The  biographer  of  that  great 
and  good  man,  Elhanan  Winchester,  who  labored  so 
long  and  so  zealously  in  defence  of  Universalism,  both 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  assures  us,  ,"  that  he 
continued  preaching  until  about  the  first  of  April  (1797, 
then  residing  in  Hartford,  Conn.)  when  he  delivered  a 
sermon,  under  a  strong  impression  that  it  was  his  last, 
from  St.  Paul's  farewell  address  to  the  elders  of  the 
Ephesian  church.  He  never  entered  his  desk  again. 

morals,  he  himself  has  fallen  from  his  high  standing  as  a  Christian 
minister,  and  proved  himself  to  have  been  the  slave  of  the  grossest 
vices.  Had  he  believed  what  Universalists  teach,  that  there  is  no 
safety  in  sin, —  that  a  sure  retribution  will  hasten  on,  and  overwhelm 
the  transgressor  before  he  is  aware,  he  might  have  been  saved  from 
disgrace  and  ruin. 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED.  275 

His  death  was  fast  approaching,  and  he  contemplated  it 
with  serenity  and  joy.  On  the  morning  of  his  decease, 
he  requested  two  or  three  young  ladies,  who  were  sit- 
ting by  him,  to  join  in  singing  a  hymn,  observing  at  the 
same  time,  that  he  might  expire  before  it  should  be 
finished.  He  began  with  them  ;  but  his  voice  soon 
faltered,  and  the  torpor  of  death  fell  upon  him.  They 
were  disconcerted,  and  paused  ;  but  he,  reviving,  en- 
couraged them  to  proceed,  and  joined  in  the  first  line 
of  each  stanza  until  he  breathed  no  more."  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Strong,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  and  an  eminent 
opposer  of  Universalism,  preached  his  funeral  dis- 
course, in  which  he  gave  Mr.  W.  an  excellent  charac- 
ter, ant?  bore  a  frank  testimony  to  his  final  constancy 
in  the  doctrine  which  he  had  preached. 

The  well  known  instances  of  Universalists  dying  in 
full  belief  of  their  cheering  opinions,  are  too  numerous 
for  us  to  make  even  a  reference  to  the  tenth  part  of 
them.  One  or  two  cases  must  suffice.  Where  was 
the  power  of  pure  Christian  faith,  to  sustain  the  soul 
in  the  trying  hour,  more  clearly  seen,  than  at  the  death- 
bed of  our  departed  friend,  the  late  Rev.  William  C. 
Hanscom,  of  Waltham,  Massachusetts.  It  was  the 
privilege  of  the  writer  of  these  pages,  to  be  often  at  his 
side,  during  his  sickness.  Over  and  over  again  he  as- 
sured me,  of  the  comfort  which  he  derived  from  his 
trust  in  the  divine  goodness,  and  his  hope  of  a  happy 
immortality  for  himself,  and  all  mankind.  But  a  few 
days  before  his  death,  I  proposed  to  him  the  following 
questions  :  "  Are  you  happy  in  your  mind  ?  "  u  Per- 
fectly," was  his  reply.  I  remarked  to  him,  u  It  is 
said  Universalism  fails  us  in  the  hour  of  sickness."  He 
replied,  u  I  know,  from  my  own  experience,  the  falsity 
of  this  statement.  I  believe  as  firmly  as  ever,  —  I 
have  no  doubt.  My  faith  is  not  in  the  least  changed. 
My  heart  and  soul  are  at  peace.  Could  I  live,  I  should 
preach  more  earnestly  than  ever.  I  have  nothing  to  re- 
gret in  my  short  ministry,  except  that  I  have  done  so 
little  in  preaching  what  I  have  believed  to  be  the  truth." 


276  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

The  day  but  one  before  his  death,  I  was  at  his  bed- 
side. He  probably  supposed  himself  dying.  His  eyes 
were  intently  gazing  upward, — his  lips  were  moving, 
and  by  applying  my  ear,  I  recognised  these  words  : 
"  I  am  going  home  to  my  Father  in  heaven,  — ^  my 
home,  — my  heavenly  home. —  I  am  happy."  ***** 
Again,  in  a  few  moments,  u  How  sweet  't  would  be  to 
die  .  •>•>  *****  an^  after  a  brief  silence,  he  faintly 
whispered, 

"  While  on  his  breast  I  lean  my  head, 
And  breathe  my  life  out  sweetly  there ;  " 

and  so  he  did  breathe  his  life  out  sweetly,  reposing, 
with  implicit  trust,  on  the  bosom  of  his  Saviour. 

Another  more  recent  instance  of  the  sustaining 
power  of  Universalism  in  the  hour  of  death,  is  seen  in 
the  death-bed  experience  of  the  late  Rev.  A.  L.  Balch, 
of  Swanzey,  Massachusetts.  He  had  been  for  nearly 
ten  years  a  preacher  of  that  doctrine.  In  an  obituary 
notice,  published  a  short  time  after  his  death,  by  the 
faithful  friend  who  preached  the  discourse  at  his  funeral, 
we  find  the  following  account  of  his  last  moments  : 

"  But  if  his  prospects  in  life  were  cheering,  and  his 
confidence  in  the  truth  of  the  salvation  of  the  whole 
race  of  Adam  strong,  they  were  doubly  so  in  death. 
His  disease  for  the  first  few  days  was  severe,  but  for 
several  of  his  last  days  he  was  not  in  much  distress,  and 
was  perfectly  sane,  and  conversed  upon  his  departure 
with  that  calmness  and  composure,  and  even  joy,  which 
the  faith  and  hope  of  the  gospel  only  can  give.  Many 
of  his  friends  called  to  see  him,  whom  he  exhorted  to 
continue  steadfast  in  the  cause  of  truth,  and  go  forward 
in  building  up  the  glorious  cause  in  which  they  had 
been  mutually  engaged.  His  brother,  Rev.  William  S. 
Balch,  of  Providence,  who  stood  by  him  to  close  his 
eyes  in  death,  he  exhorted  to  faithfulness  in  his  calling, 
as  a  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And,  after 
having  said  all  that  he  could  concerning  his  family  (his 
wife  and  son) ,  and  given  directions  to  his  brother  with 


WHAT  ARE  THE  DUTIES  OF  UNIVERSALISTS  7     277 

regard  to  his  burial,  &c.,  and  after  taking  an  affection- 
ate leave  of  all,  he  desired  them  to  sing  the  hymn  com- 
mencing, 

'  Come,  thou  fount  of  every  blessing, 
Tune  ray  heart  to  sing  thy  grace ; 
Streams  of  mercy,  never  ceasing, 
Call  for  songs  of  loudest  praise.' 

u  After  which,  he  desired  to  be  moved  so  that  he 
could  see  the  sun,  which,  in  all  the  loveliness  of  an  au- 
tumnal sunset,  was  just  receding  from  his  view  in  more 
senses  than  one  ;  —  he  observed  the  beauty  and  glory 
of  the  scene,  and  remarked,  '  I  shall  soon  behold  a 
brighter  sun,' — and  when  the  light  of  day  went  down, 
the  lamp  of  life  went  out,  without  the  motion  of  a  mus- 
cle, or  the  uttering  of  a  groan,  on  Monday,  November 
4th,  1839." 

XX.  There  are  some  other  objections  which  are 
urged  against  Universalism,  but  they  are  generally  of 
slight  importance.  Mr.  Balfou»,  in  his  "  First  In- 
quiry," has  written  largely  in  reply  to  the  objections 
against  Universalism.  See  Chap.  II.,  Sect.  VI.  We 
must  refer  the  reader  to  that  work  for  much  that  we 
should  be  glad  to  introduce  in  this  place,  but  which 
must  be  excluded  for  want  of  room.  Mr.  Balfour  has 
noticed  several  objections,  which  we  here  have  not 
space  to  notice  at  all. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

WHAT  ARE  THE  DUTIES  OF  UNIVERSALISTS  1 

I.      Who  are  Universalists  ?     A  Universalist  is  one 
who  believes  in  a  God  of  infinite  wisdom,  and  unbound- 
ed love  and  goodness, —  who  believes  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  his  Son,  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world, —  who  believes 
24 


278  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNI  VERBALISM. 

in  the  record  which  God  has  given  of  his  Son,  —  who 
believes  that  God  will  overcome  all  evil  with  goodness, 
and  who  labors  to  overcome  evil  himself,  in  the  same 
way,  —  who  loves  God  supremely,  and  his  neighbours 
with  brotherly  affection,  as  he  is  required  to  do.  He 
does  unto  others  as  he  would  that  others  should  do  unto 
him,  —  he  is  patient  under  suffering,  —  comforted  un- 
der affliction, — undismayed  under  the  prospect  of 
death,  —  and  filled  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of 
glory,  in  believing  that  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  see 
the  salvation  of  God,  —  that  the  whole  creation  will  be 
delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption,  and  translated 
into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 

II.  There  are  two  kinds  of  Universalists.  Let  us 
premise,  that  we  do  not  hold  a  man  to  be  a  Universalist 
merely  because  he  is  and- orthodox.  Universalists,  it 
is  true,  are  opposed  to  orthodoxy,  but  that  is  not  the 
circumstance  which  makes  them  Universalists.  Infidels 
are  opposed  to  orthodoxy,  but  they  are  not  Universal- 
ists. Catholics  are  opposed  to  what  we  call  orthodoxy, 
but  they  are  not  Universalists.  Disbelief  of  falsehood 
does  not  make  a  man  any  thing  but  an  unbeliever.  To 
be  a  Universalist,  a  man  must  not  only  reject  the  doc- 
trine of  endless  misery,  he  must  believe  in  God,  and  in 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ,,  and  in  the  effectual  mission  of 
Jesus  to  save  a  world  of  sinners,  —  he  must  believe 
that  sin  shall  be  finished,  death  be  swallowed  up  in  vic- 
tory, and  God  be  all  in  all.  Such  is  Universalism. 
Those  who  believe  this  doctrine,  and  those  only,  are 
Universalists. 

By  the  two  classes  of  Universalists,  of  which  we 
promised  to  speak,  we  mean  positive  and  negative  Uni- 
versalists. The  distinction  may  at  first  appear  to  be 
trifling  ;  but  we  think,  upon  examination,  it  will  be  seen 
to  be  founded  in  justice,  and  will  assume  some  impor- 
tance. 

Negative  Universalists  are  those,  who  merely  assent 
to  the  doctrine.  They  believe,  they  say,  that  all  men 
will  at  last  be  saved.  They  think  the  doctrine  of  end- 


WHAT  ARE  THE  DUTIES  OF  UNIVERSALISTS  ?      279 

less  misery  a  very  bad  doctrine,  and  entertain  no  doubts 
of  the  final  happiness  of  the  whole  world.  This  is  the 
amount  of  their  religion.  Now  there  is  a  wide  differ- 
ence between  these,  and  those  we  are  pleased  to  call 
positive  Universalists.  The  latter  embrace  the  doctrine 
with  a  living  faith.  They  not  only  believe  it,  but  they 
feel  it ;  they  love  it  ;  it  is  the  meat  and  drink  of  their 
souls  ;  they  have  a  constant  and  ever-active  desire 
that  others  may  be  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth  ;  they  profess  the  truth  openly  ;  they  do  all  in 
their  power  to  establish  it  in  the  world  ;  they  love 
God's  house  ;  they  love  the  stated  ministry  of  the 
word  ;  they  love  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel ;  they 
love  seasons  of  prayer  and  praise  ;  they  love  the  com- 
munion of  the  brotherhood  ;  they  know  no  other  reli- 
gion worth  possessing  ;  to  them  there  is  no  other  name 
given  among  men,  whereby  we  can  be  saved,  save  Je- 
sus of  Nazareth.  Such  are  positive  Universalists. 
There  are  many  of  them  in  the  world,  but  we  wish  their 
number  was  quadrupled.  We  wish  there  was  a  society 
of  such  Universalists  in  every  town  and  village  in  the 
United  States.  They  have  a  realizing  sense  of  the 
love  of  God  ;  it  softens  their  souls  ;  they  live  a  holy, 
religious,  cheerful  life  ;  and,  viewing  moral  excellence 
to  be  an  approximation  to  God,  they  desire  to  be  u  per- 
fect, as  their  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect." 

We  once  knew  a  Universalist  of  this  character,  — 
he  was  truly  so.  Unfortunately  for  him,  he  married  a 
proud,  giddy,  worldly-minded  wife,  at  whose  persuasion 
he  removed  to  another  town,  quit  his  religious  society 
and  friends,  and  followed  her  to  a  popular  house  of 
worship,  where  vain  hearts,  nodding  plumes,  and  gaudy 
dresses  congregated.  He  felt  himself,  like  the  prodigal, 
though  surrounded  by  magnificence  ;  but  he  was  in 
want.  "  O,"  said  he,  u  in  my  Father's  house,  there  is 
bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  I  perish  with  hunger." 
He  persisted  on  returning  to  his  wonted  rest  ;  and  he 
came  with  tears  of  contrition  to  beg  of  God  and  man 
forgiveness  for  having  slighted  a  Saviour's  love,  and 


280  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSAL1SM. 

forsaken  the  fold  of  the  faithful.     The  poet  well  ex- 
presses his  feelings. 

"  O,  for  a  closer  walk  with  God, 
Serene  and  calm  my  frame ; 
A  purer  light  shall  mark  the  road, 
That  leads  me  to  the  Lamb. 

"  Where  is  that  blessedness  I  knew, 

When  first  I  saw  the  Lord  ? 
Where  is  that  soul-inspiring  view, 
Of  Jesus  and  his  Word  ? 

"  What  peaceful  hours  I  then  enjoyed, 

How  sweet  their  memory  still ; 
But  now,  I  feel  an  aching  void, 
That  God  alone  can  fill. 

"  Return,  O  holy  dove,  return, 
Sweet  messenger  of  rest ; 
I  hate  the  sins  that  made  me  mourn, 
That  drove  me  from  thy  breast. 

"  The  dearest  idol  I  have  known, 

Whate'er  that  idol  be, 
Help  me  to  tear  it  from  the  throne, 
And  worship  only  thee." 

The  negative  Universalist  feels  very  little  of  such 
emotion  as  this.  He  thinks  it  does  not  make  a  great 
difference  as  to  what  meeting  for  public  worship  he  may 
attend.  He  chooses  the  nearest,  or  at  any  rate  the 
most  fashionable.  He  comforts  himself,  that  he  will 
not  probably  hear  any  thing  said  against  his  faith,  or,  if 
he  should,  he  will  not  be  obliged  to  believe  it.  u  How 
dwelleth  the  love  of  God  in  that  man  ?."  Religion  to 
him  is  not  a  principle  of  the  heart,  it  is  a  speculation, 
—  the  doctrine  of  Christ  has  never  reached  his  soul. 
If  it  had,  it  would  renovate  his  spirit,  and  make  him  a 
disciple  of  the  Redeemer  in  deed  and  in  truth. 

III.  Jim  I  really  a  Universalist  ?  Do  I  believe, 
without  doubt,  in  the  existence  of  a  supreme,  self- 
existent,  uncreated  God  ?  Do  I  believe  in  the  holy 
Scriptures  as  the  Word  of  God  ?  Do  I  believe  in 
Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God,  the  Messiah  ?  Do  I  believe 
in  his  resurrection  ?  Do  I  believe  in  the  resurrection 
of  all  men  to  a  state  of  holiness  and  happiness  ?  —  Do 


WHAT  ARE  THE  DUTIES  OF  UNI  VERBALISTS  ?      281 

I  believe  in  the  paternal  character  of  God  ?  that  he  is 
my  Father,  and  the  Father  of  all  mankind  ?  Do  I  be- 
lieve all  these  things  ? 

Men  are  apt  to  be  deceived  in  regard  to  what  they 
believe.  We  will  therefore  put  the  reader  upon  a  plan, 
by  which  he  may  determine  with  some  considerable  de- 
gree of  certainty,  whether  he  is  really  a  Universalist. 
Do  you  reverence  God  ?  If  you  do  not,  you  have  not 
a  full  faith  in  his  existence,  and,  therefore,  you  are  not 
a  Universalist.  Do  you  read  the  Bible  ?  do  you  take 
comfort  in  this  exercise  ?  are  its  teachings  to  you  like 
cold  water  to  a  thirsty  soul  ?  If  not,  you  do  not  be- 
lieve this  book  to  be  a  revelation  from  God,  and,  of 
course,  are  not  a  Universalist.  Do  you  love  the  Sa- 
viour ?  are  you  always  desirous  to  follow  his  example 
and  practice  his  precepts  ?  If  not,  you  do  not  believe 
that  he  is  the  Son  of  God,  and,  of  course,  are  not 
a  Universalist.  Have  you  a  strong  hope  of  immortality  ? 
Does  this  hope  support  you  and  comfort  you  in  the 
view  of  death  ?  Does  it  enable  you  to  say,  "O  death, 
where  is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  " 
If  not,  you  must  have  a  lurking  unbelief  about  you, 
and  you  are  at  best  but  a  doubting  Universalist.  Have 
you  a  filial  confidence  in  God  ?  Do  you  love  him  with 
all  the  heart,  the  mind,  the  might,  the  strength  ?  If 
not,  you  do  not  believe  he  is  your  FATHER,  and,  of 
course,  you  are  not  a  Universalist.  If  you  believe  he 
is  your  Father,  you  will  love  him  with  your  whole  soul. 
Do  you  treat  your  fellow-creatures  as  your  brethren  ? 
If  not,  you  do  not  believe  that  God  is  the  Father  of  all 
men.  It  is  well  for  us  to  try  ourselves  frequently  by 
these  rules. 

IV.  The  conclusion,  —  I  am  a  Universalist.  Yes, 
a  Universalist,  —  a  believer  in  God  as  the  Creator, 
Preserver,  Benefactor,  Judge,  and  Saviour  of  all  men  ; 
in  Jesus,  as  "the  Mediator  between  God  and  men," 
unto  whom,  at  last,  "  every  knee  shall  bow,  and  whom 
every  tongue  shall  confess  to  be  Lord,  to  the  glory  of 
God  the  Father."  Such  is  my  faith.  There  has  been 
24* 


282  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

no  change  in  it  for  many  years,  except  that  it  has 
grown  stronger  continually.  I  am  sure  that  this  doc- 
trine is  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible  ;  and  I  am  equally 
sure,  that  the  sacred  writers  intended  to  state  and  de- 
fend it.  I  know  the  effect  it  has  upon  me  ;  it  rebukes 
me  for  wrong  doing  ;  it  excites  love  to  God  and  man  ; 
it  meliorates  the  fear  of  death  ;  it  gives  me  happiness, 
yea,  joy,  that  is  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  It  is 
"  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  "  ;  it  is  my  "  ALL  IN  ALL." 
If  this  doctrine  be  false,  I  am  nothing,  and  less  than 
nothing  ;  but  if  it  be  true,  I  am  immortal,  I  am  a 
brother  of  angels,  an  heir  of  endless  glory. 

Shall  I  ever  renounce  this  •  doctrine  ?  Never.  It  is 
no  more  probable,  than  that  I  shall  renounce  the  Bible, 
and  all  my  trust  in  the  being  of  God.  This  is  impos- 
sible, —  utterly  impossible. 

V.  What  are  the  peculiar  duties  of  Universalists  9 
It  is  but  seldom,  that  we  now  hear  the  objection  urged 
against  Universalism,  which  was  formerly  urged  with 
frequency  and  confidence,  that  it  had  a  licentious  influ- 
ence on  those  who  believed  it.  We  are  inclined  to  at- 
tribute the  disrespect  into  which  this  charge  against 
Universalism  has  fallen,  to  reflection  in  the  opponent, 
who  is  convinced,  that  Universalists  are  not  what  he 
has  often  represented  them  to  be  ;  and,  moreover,  that 
a  doctrine  of  love  and  mercy  must  have  a  benign  and 
salutary  tendency. 

The  Universalist  now  maintains,  as  he  has  always 
maintained,  that  the  doctrine  in  which  he  believes,  so 
far  from  exerting  an  injurious  influence,  is,  in  fact,  of 
all  doctrines  advocated  by  Christians,  the  most  pure  and 
holy,  —  exciting  the  sweetest  and  most  generous  senti- 
ments in  the  human  heart  ;  and  he  goes  further,  and 
declares,  that,  so  far  as  any  doctrine  is  really  opposed  to 
the  doctrine  of  Universalism,  it  must  exert  a  paralyzing 
influence  on  the  benevolent  affections  of  the  human 
soul.  There  is  nothing  in  any  creed  under  heaven, 
which  is  calculated  to  make  men  love  God  and  one  an- 
other, but  what  is  found  in  the  sublime  and  heavenly 


WHAT  ARE  THE  DUTIES  OF  UNIVERSALISTS  ?      283 

doctrine  of  universal  grace.  This  fact  has  not  received 
the  attention,  which  its  importance  merits.  It  is  the  grace 
and  love  of  God  which  excite  gratitude,  in  what  creed 
soever  they  may  be  found,  and  it  is  gratitude  which  ex- 
cites love  and  obedience  ;  and  no  person  would  be  so 
unwise  as  to  say,  that  there  is  less  love  and  grace  man- 
ifested in  the  doctrine  of  Universalism  than  in  other 
doctrines.  It  is  a  fact,  and  we  assert  it  without  fear 
of  being  contradicted  by  any  person  who  will  stop  and 
reason  before  he  decides,  that,  if  generous  sentiments 
are  excited  in  the  human  heart  by  the  consideration  of 
favor  and  mercy  bestowed  upon  us,  there  is  no  doc- 
trine known  among  men  so  favorable  to  the  growth  of 
such  sentiments  as  that  of  impartial  love  in  the  Divine 
Being. 

The  Universalist  is  perfectly  willing  to  confess,  that 
he  is  subject  to  all  the  passions  and  temptations  com- 
mon to  mankind,  and  that  he  is,  like  the  rest  of  the 
world,  too  often  found  in  the  paths  of  disobedience  and 
sin.  But,  in  no  instance,  can  the  Universalist  trace  his 
offences  to  the  influence  of  his  religious  opinions  ;  in- 
deed, he  knows  there  is  nothing  which- causes  him  to  put 
a  greater  restraint  upon  himself,  and  that  makes  him 
more  ashamed  of  his  iniquities  than  the  reflection,  that 
the  Being,  whose  laws  he  has  broken,  is  his  kind  and 
faithful  friend  ;  and  that  the  persons  whom  he  has  injured 
are  his  brethren,  and  common  participators  with  him  in 
the  love  of  God.  The  morals  of  the  Universalist 
would,  and  must,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  be  purer 
than  the  morals  of  those  operated  upon  by  different 
opinions,  were  it  not  that  he  makes  his  religion  too  much 
a  thing  of  theory,  and  too  little  a  thing  of  practice. 
This  is  the  fault  of  many  Universalists.  With  the  best 
doctrine  ever  embraced  by  man,  a  doctrine  which  an- 
gels delighted  to  proclaim,  their  morals  should  assume 
a  pure,  mild,  and  benevolent  character, — love  should 
breathe  in  their  devotions,  shine  in  their  actions,  and 
drop  from  their  lips. 

We  believe  we  are  neither  visionary  nor  enthusiastic  ; 


284  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

we  endeavour  to  look  at  this  subject  with  the  eye  of 
reason  ;  and  we  can  come  to  no  other  result.  The 
Universalist  believes  that  God  is  his  Father,  his  friend, 
and  benefactor  ;  that  every  blessing  he  receives  comes 
from  the  hand  of  God,  who  is  unchanging  in  his  mer- 
cies, who  will  love  him  forever,  and  who  will  not  afflict 
willingly,  nor  grieve  the  children  of  men.  These  are 
the  predominant  sentiments  in  his  heart,  regarding  the 
Supreme  Being,  Now,  a  man  believing  this  may  at 
times  forget  it  ;  his  mind  may  be  engrossed  by  other 
subjects  ;  his  passions  may  be  excited,  and  he  may  act 
contrarily  to  it.  But  the  question  is,  whether  a  man  re- 
alizing these  sentiments,  and  acting  according  to  their 
natural  influence,  will  not  do  his  duties  in  relation  to 
his  Maker  with"  more  readiness  and  faithfulness,  than 
though  he  believed  what  is  directly  opposed  to  them  ? 
The  question  must  be  answered  in  the  affirmative. 
Will  he  not  be  more  likely  to  love  God  ?  and,  if  he 
loves  him,  will  he  not  be  more  likely  to  serve  him,  and 
to  serve  him  with  cheerfulness  ?  Whenever  his  sen- 
timents have  any  influence,  must  they  not  have  that 
influence  ?  and,  if  he  does  wrong,  can  it  be  attributed 
to  the  influence  of  those  views  ?  Would  it  not  be,  in 
the  highest  degree,  absurd  to  attribute  it  to  those 
views  ? 

VI.  There  is  no  one  precept,  which  sets  forth  the 
duty  of  the  Christian  in. a  more  forcible  manner,  than 
that  divine  precept  in  the  memorable  Sermon  upon  the 
Mount ;  u  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Fa- 
ther, which  is  in  heaven,  is  perfect."  It  comprehends 
the  substance  of  all  Christian  obedience.  And,  as  the 
consideration  of  this  subject  will  tend  to  set  forth  ;  1st, 
The  beneficent  tendency  of  Universalism  ;  and,  2d, 
The  duties  which  rise  from  a  firm  faith  in  God,  as  a 
kind,  impartial,  and  unchangeable  PARENT,  we  shall 
ask  a  careful  attention  to  it. 

"Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect."  Matt.  v.  48.  But  here 
rises  a  very  important  question,  viz.  In  ichat  does  the 


WHAT  ARE  THE  DUTIES  OF  UNIVERSALISTS  ?     285 

perfection  of  God  consist  ?  If  it  is  our  duty  to  be  per- 
fect as  God  is  perfect,  how  necessary  it  is  to  know  in 
what  his  perfection  consists.  Fortunately  the  Saviour 
has  described  the  divine  perfection  in  the  chapter  from 
which  we  have  already  quoted.  That  heavenly  instruc- 
ter,  that  guide  of  the  ignorant,  made  God's  perfection 
to  consist  in  IMPARTIAL,  UNCHANGEABLE  GOODNESS. 

He  was  exploding  the  old  morality,  which  until  then 
had  prevailed  in  the  world,  that  men  should  love  their 
neighbors,  but  hate  their  enemies.  "  I  say  unto  you," 
said  he,  u  love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you, 
and  pray  for  them  that  despitefully  use  you,  and  per- 
secute you."  Matt.  v.  44.  This  was  the  morality 
of  Christ ;  and  it  was  very  different,  indeed,  from  the 
morality  which  had  previously  prevailed.  It  was  no 
trifling  labor  to  change  not  only  the  morality  of  a  peo- 
ple, but  also  the  standard  of  their  morality,  the  grounds 
and  reasons  of  it ;  and  we  look  with  interest,  therefore, 
to  see  what  means  the  heavenly  instructor  adopted  to 
accomplish  so  difficult  a  task.  We  perceive,  at  once, 
his  means.  He  pointed  the  people  to  the  character  of 
God,  and  entreated  them  to  imitate  Him.  For,  after 
saying,  "love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse 
you,"  &c.,  he  tells  them  to  do  this,  "  that  they  may  be 
the  children  of  their  Father  in  heaven  ;"  that  is,  that 
they  may  be  like  him.  But  does  God  love  his  enemies  ? 
does  he  bless  those  who  curse  him  ?  Yes  ;  for  the 
Saviour  adds,  u  he  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil 
and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just,  and  on 
the  unjust."  Here  we  see  the  perfection  of  God,  which 
Jesus  desired  his  followers  to  imitate.  It  was  impar- 
tial, unchangeable  goodness.  It  certainly  is  God's 
goodness  which  causes  the  sun  to  warm  the  earth,  and 
the  rain  to  fertilize  it.  But  is  this  goodness  impartial  ? 
Certainly.  The  sun  shines  upon  all  men,  the  rain  falls 
upon  all  men.  It  was  not  possible  for  the  divine  Teach- 
er to  have  referred  to  any  thing  more  impartial  than  the 
shining  of  the  sun,  and  the  falling  of  the  rain.  But  is 
this  goodness  unchangeable,  as  well  as  impartial  ?  It 


286  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

surely  is.  The  sun  has  always  shed  his  beams  upon 
the  earth  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  the  rain 
has  always  descended  in  its  season.  The  sin  of  man 
has  never  arrested  the  shining  of  the  sun  ;  his  injustice 
has  never  prevented  the  falling  of  the  rain.  All  his 
sin,  iniquity,  and  wickedness  have  never  been  able 
to  change  the  goodness  of  God,  or  divert  it  from  its 
steady  purpose.  When  Jesus,  therefore,  referred  to 
God's  perfection,  he  referred  to  His  IMPARTIAL,  UN- 
CHANGEABLE GOODNESS.  He  referred  to  this  perfec- 
tion to  recommend  it  to  the  attention  of  men,  that  they 
might  u  be  perfect,  as  their  Father  in  heaven  was  per- 
fect." Now  remark,  he  began  by  enjoining  it  on  men 
to  love  their  enemies,  and  to  render  good  for  evil.  To 
incite  them  to  this,  he  referred  them  to  the  character  of 
God  ;  and  unless  God  loves  his  enemies,  a  reference 
to  his  character  and  perfection,  in  this  case,  was,  of  all 
things,  the  most  unfortunate.  But  it  was  shown  by  our 
Lord,  at  the  time,  that  God  did  love  his  enemies,  not 
by  a  reference  to  any  book  or  manuscript  whose  author- 
ity might  be  doubted,  but  by  a  reference  to  the  unde- 
niable works  of  God,  to  the  broad  heavens,  to  the  thirst- 
ing earth,  to  the  light  of  day,  and  to  the  fertilizing  show- 
ers. This  being  done,  Jesus,  the  lovely  Son  of  God, 
scorned  the  low^  degrading  morality  of  rendering  good 
only  in  return  for  good.  The  worst  of  men,  the  lowest, 
the  vilest  would  do  this.  "  For  if  ye  love  them  which 
love  you,  what  reward  have- ye  ?  do  not  even  the  publi- 
cans the  same  ?  And  if  ye  salute  your  brethren  only, 
what  do  ye  more  than  others  ?  do  not  even  the  publicans 
so  ?  "  The  publicans  were  regarded  as  the  wickedest 
of  all  men  ;  their  name  was  a  reproach  and  a  by- word, 
and  was  always  associated  with  that  of  sinners.  Jesus 
showed,  that  even  such  men  would  render  good  in  re- 
turn for  good.  But  this  was  a  mere  nagative  goodness. 
There  was  "  a  more  excellent  way."  There  was  a 
more  exalted  morality,  —  a  morality  built  upon  the  di- 
vine example,—  patterned  after  the  model  of  God's  ex- 


WHAT  ARE  THE  DUTIES  OF  UNIVERSALISTS  ?     287 

cellence,  which  consisted  in  the  love  of  enemies,  in  re- 
turning blessing  for  curses,  goodness  for  hatred  and 
persecution.  This  was  the  morality  which  he  enjoined 
in  the  most  solemn  manner,  upon  his  followers,  requir- 
ing them  to  u  be  perfect,  as  their  Father  in  heaven  was 
perfect."  It  has  sometimes  been  said,  incautiously, 
that  Universalism  debases  the  character  of  God.  On 
the  contrary,  we  have  the  fullest  conviction,  that  it  is 
the  only  doctrine  which  does  not  debase  it.  All  doc- 
trines, which  represent  God  as  hating  the  wicked,— 
which  teach  us,  that  God  does  not  love  men  until  they 
are  regenerated,  and  brought  to  love  him,  all  such  doc- 
trines, we  say,  debase  the  character  of  God  to  a  level 
with  that  of  the  publicans,  who  always  loved  such  as 
loved  them.  Universalism  exalts  the  character  of  God, 
—  it  shows  us  a  God  worthy  to  be  loved  and  adored  ; 
and  as  it  encourages  us  to  be  perfect  as  he  is  perfect,  it 
has  a  highly  salutary  influence  upon  the  hearts  and  con- 
duct of  men.  • 

VII.  It  is  sometimes  said,  that  Universalists  preach 
the  love  of  God  to  sinners,  too  boldly  and  unreservedly. 
Their  preaching  would  have  a  better  effect,  it  is  said, 
if  they  would  make  the  love  of  God  to  man  to  be  ori- 
ginated by  the  love  of  man  to  God.  Then  men  would 
see  a  strong  reason  why  they  ought  to  love  him,  be- 
cause, if  they  did  not  love  him,  his  wrath  would  burn 
against  them.  This  is  regarded  by  many  as  sound  rea- 
soning ;  but  we  solemnly  aver,  that  we  believe,  that  there 
never  yet  was  a  man  hated  God,  who  was  not  made 
to  hate  him  by  the  principle  incorporated  into  this  very 
doctrine,  which  is  thought  to  be  so  necessary  to  make 
men  love  him.  This  doctrine  is  predicated  of  the  fact, 
that  God  hates  men.  He  will  love  them,  if  they  will 
love  him,  —  a  plain  acknowledgment,  that  he  does  not, 
at  the  time,  love  them.  If  he  does  not  love  them,  he 
hates  them  ;  and  there  never  yet  was  a  man  hated  God, 
who  was  not  caused  to  do  it  by  believing,  that  God 
hated  him.  Whenever  men  believe,  that  God  hates 


288  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

them,  they  will  hate  him.  On  the  other  hand,  men  will 
love  God,  when  they  know  and  feel,  that  God  loves 
them.  What  saith  the  apostle  on  this  subject  ?  See  1 
John  iv.  19,  —  *c  We  love  him  because  he  first  loved 
us."  Here  two  facts  are  involved,  —  1st,  that  God 
loves  men  ;  and  2d,  that  his  love  of  men  is  the  cause 
of  their  love  of  him.  Now,  if  we  have  ascertained  an 
adequate  means  whereby  men  may  be  made  to  love 
God,  we  ought  not  to  seek  further,  much  less  ought  we 
to  resort  to  the  contrary  and  highly  doubtful  expedient 
of  preaching  wrath.  Again,  saith  the  same  apostle, 
1st  Epis.  iv.  10,  —  "  Herein  (that  is,  in  the  death  of 
Christ)  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  he  loved 
«s,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins." 
And,  then,  in  the  next  verse,  he  makes  his  inference 
from  the  love  of  God.  "  Beloved,  if  God  so  loved 
us,  how  ought  we  to  love  one  another,"  verse  11.  Here 
we  see  at  once  the  beneficent  tendency  of  God's  love. 
It  leads  us  to  imitate  God.  It  incites  us  to  "  be  per- 
fect, as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect."  "  If  God  so 
loved  us,  how  ought  we  to  love  one  another."  If  this 
is  the  inference  to  be  made  from  God's  love,  what  in- 
ference would  be  made  if  he  hated  men  ?  Answer. 
The  contrary  inference.  "We  hate  him,  because  he 
first  hated  us.  Ye  hated,  if  God  so  hated  us,  how 
ought  we  also  to  hate  one  another."  It  would  be  an 
imitation  of  God,  —  men  in  this  way  would  be  perfect, 
as  their  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.  And  we  can  see 
no  reason  in  the  Scriptures,  that  men  are  released  from 
the  obligation  to  imitate  God,  even  though  he  does 
hate  men.  But  what  a  sad  world  would  this  be,  were 
all  men  to  believe,  that  God  hates  his  creatures  on 
earth,  and  were  they  also,  as  they  unquestionably  would 
in  that  case,  to  go  seriously  to  work  to  imitate  him  in 
their  dispositions  and  conduct. 

The  love  of  God  is  a  soul-inspiring  theme.  The 
heart  is  softened  by  this  subject.  O  happy  Universal- 
its  !  ye  are  the  only  people  on  the  earth  who  believe  in 


WHAT  ARE  THE  DUTIES  OF  UN1VERSALISTS?      289 

a  God  whose  perfection  may  be  safely  imitated.  You 
can  love,  and  imitate  your  God  ;  but  others,  to  imitate 
their  God,  must  hate.  You  can  find  peace  and  joy  in 
obeying  the  injunction  of  our  great  Master,  —  "Be  ye, 
therefore,  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is 
perfect."  Remember,  brethren,  there  is  no  other  way 
to  be  perfect,  but  that  in  which  God  is  perfect.  Uni- 
versalists,  having  so  reasonable  and  benevolent  a  doc- 
trine, are  laid  under  more  sacred  obligations  to  be  vir- 
tuous than  any  other  class  of  men.  A  man  who  believes 
in  God's  hatred  to  men  will  be  in  great  danger  of  hating 
his  fellow-creatures  ;  but  in  this  case  it  is  his  misfortune 
rather  than  his  fault.  In  a  Universalist  it  would  be  sin 
of  the  deepest  dye,  —  sin  against  heaven  :  it  would  be 
ingratitude, — unkindness,  —  rendering  back  to  God 
evil  for  his  good.  For  all  evil  done  to  God's  creatures 
is  evil  done  to  him.  fc  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  to 
one  of  the  least  of  my  disciples,  ye  have  done  it  unto 
me."  Brethren,  let  us  remember  these  things  continu- 
ally. Wherever  scattered  abroad,  let  this  characteris- 
tic distinguish  us  all,  that  we  love  the  Lord  God  with 
all  our  hearts,  and  our  neighbors  as  ourselves.  This  is 
better  than  burnt-offerings  or  sacrifices  ;  it  is  the  whole 
duty  of  man,  for  want  of  which  nothing  can  atone. 

VIII.  To  sum  up,  then,  what  are  the  peculiar  du- 
ties of  those  who  believe  in  the  infinite  goodness  of 
God,  and  in  the  final  holiness  and  happiness  of  all  men  ? 

They  should  love,  worship,  honor,  and  serve  God  as 
a  Father.  Shall  not  he  who  watches  over  us  with  an 
almighty  and  unchanging  love,  have  the  return  of  our 
feeble  gratitude  and  obedience  ?  If  our  professed  faith 
is  not  mere  speculation,  we  must  show  the  fruits  of  it 
m  our  lives.  "  Faith,  without  works,  is  dead."  En- 
deavour, then,  to  cherish  a  constant  and  lively  sense 
of  the  paternity  of  God.  Such  a  sentiment,  dwelling 
in  the  heart,  will  not  only  induce  us  to  love  and  serve 
God,  but  will  sustain  us  in  the  season  of  adversity,  lift 
us  up  in  the  times  of  our  deepest  trials,  chasten  every 
25 


290  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

pleasure,  and  bear  the  soul  gently  through  the  dark  val- 
ley of  the  shadow  of  death.     As  saith  the  poet,  — 

"  Is  there  a  lone  and  dreary  hour, 

When  worldly  pleasures  lose  their  power  ? 
My  Father  !  let  me  turn  to  thee, 
And  set  each  thought  of  darkness  free. 

"  Is  there  a  time  of  racking  grief, 
Which  scorns  the  prospect  of  relief? 
My  Father  !  break  the  cheerless  gloom, 
And  bid  my  heart  its  calm  resume. 

•'«  Is  there  an  hour  of  peace  and  joy, 
When  hope  is  all  my  soul's  employ  ? 
My  Father  !  still  my  hopes  will  roam, 
Until  they  rest  with  thee,  their  home. 

"  The  noontide  blaze,  the  midnight  scene, 
The  dawn  or  twilight's  sweet  serene ; 
The  sick,  nay,  ev'n  the  dying  hour, 
Shall  own  my  Father's  grace  and  power." 

The  Universalist  should  always  bear  in  mind,  that 
God  is  no  less  the  Father  of  others,  than  himself.  As 
he  is  the  Creator,  so  is  he  the  Parent,  of  all.  See,  then, 
that  there  is  a  common  bond,  —  a  tie,  —  uniting  the  vast 
family  of  man.  No  national  boundary  can  dissolve  this 
tie,  no  distance, — no  circumstance  of  birth,  or  of  color, 
—  no  misfortune,  no  oppression  ;  neither  poverty,  nor 
vice,  nor  disgrace,  nor  death,  can  sunder  it.  It  is  as 
indissoluble  as  the  love  of  God.  When  men  can  cease 
to  be  the  offspring  of  God,  then  they  will  cease  to  be  a 
brotherhood.  Who,  believing  and  realizing  this,  can  be 
unkind  ?  Who  can  be  entirely  engrossed  in  his  own 
welfare  ?  Who  can  be  the  oppressor  of  his  brethren  ? 
Who  can  be  deaf  to  the  moan  of  the  sufferer  ?  to  the 
plaintive  entreaty  of  the  poor  ?  The  more  powerfully 
the  true  principles  of  Universalism  operate  on  the 
heart,  the  more  kind,  faithful,  and  actively  benevolent 
shall  we  be.  Let  us,  then,  endeavour  to  be  Universal- 
ists  indeed,  — Universalists  in  spirit  as  well  as  in  pro- 
fession, —  Universalists  in  practice  as  well  as  in  pre- 
cept. We  think  too  little  of  God  as  a  Father,  and  too 
little  of  man  as  our  kindred  in  body  and  in  soul.  Never 


WHAT  ARE  THE  DUTIES  OF  UNI  VERBALISTS  ?      291 

yet  was  a  man  led  into  wrong  doing,  by  following  close- 
ly the  influences  of  Universalism.  We  do  not  deny, 
that  there  are  men  professing  to  be  Universalists,  who 
dishonor  the  name  they  bear  ;  but  their  wickedness 
does  not  spring  from  the  fact,  that  they  are  Universal- 
ists indeed,  but  from  the  fact,  that  they  are  not  so.  Let 
Universalism,  then,  be  fully  and  faithfully  preached. 
Ye  servants  of  the  living  God,  who  minister  at  his  holy 
altar,  fail  not  to  impress  most  deeply  upon  the  hearts 
of  your  hearers,  the  principles  of  this  holy  faith.  Ye 
cannot  make  men  love  God  too  well.  If  they  love 
him,  they  will  love  their  brethren.  Dwell  frequently 
on  the  moral  power  of  your  doctrine,  and  urge  believ- 
ers to  good  works.  Rest  assured  of  this,  that  the 
more  closely  you  bring  your  hearers  to  practise  the 
principles  of  the  doctrine  we  have  defended,  the  more 
heavenly-minded  and  obedient  will  they  be.  Be  careful 
to  put  your  hearers  on  their  guard  against  a  mere  spec- 
ulative, or  dead  faith.  There  is  but  one  way  to  deter- 
mine whether  your  faith  be  a  living  faith.  Doth  it 
bring  forth  good  works  9  That  is  the  test. 

IX.  Any  science,  any  theory  of  philosophy,  in 
order  to  be  tested,  must  be  put  into  practice.  If  men 
never  should  put  their  arithmetical  knowledge  into  prac- 
tice, of  what  benefit  would  it  be  to  them  ?  If  the  well- 
taught  navigator  should  fail  to  apply  his  knowledge  to 
the  working  of  his  ship,  it  would  do  him  no  good.  His 
theory  must  be  put  into  practice,  or  he  can  derive  no 
benefit  from  it.  It  was  designed  for  practical  applica- 
tion. If  totally  regardless  of  the  science  in  which  he 
had  been  instructed,  he  should  lose  his  way  upon  the 
pathless  deep,  and  find  himself  among  rocks  and  quick- 
sands, his  misfortunes  would  not  be  attributed  to  the 
system  in  which  he  had  been  instructed,  but  to  his  fail- 
ure to  apply  the  principles  of  it  to  practice.  This  is 
equally  true  of  the  Christian.  If  he,  by  departing 
from  the  sound  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ, 
gets  lost  in  the  mazes  of  sin  and  folly,  his  faults  are  not 
to  be  attributed  to  the  influence  of  Christian  faith,  but 


292  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

to  the  want  of  that  influence.  The  Universalist  knows, 
that  the  sentiments  he  cherishes,  have  none  other  effect 
upon  him  than  that  which  is  good.  The  natural  influ- 
ence of  them,  is  to  promote  love  to  God  and  love  to 
man,  —  comfort  and  hope  in  seasons  of  the  deepest 
affliction, — reconciliation  to  God  at  all  times, — and 
confidence  in  the  hour  of  death.  But  to  produce  these 
consequences,  the  sentiments  must  not  be  merely  as- 
sented to.  "  He  is  not  a  Jew  which  is  one  outwardly," 
saith  the  apostle  ;  "neither  is  that  circumcision  which 
is  outward  in  the  flesh.  But  he  is  a  Jew  which  is  one 
inwardly  ;  and  circumcision  is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the 
spirit,  and  not  in  the  letter."  So  he  is  not  a  Univer- 
salist which  is  one  outwardly  ;  he  must  have  the  doc- 
trine in  his  heart ;  and  if  there,  like  an  ever-living 
fountain,  it  will  continually  send  out  streams  of  truth, 
and  purity,  and  love.  When  Universalists  do  wrong, 
it  is  not  because  they  obey  the  influences  of  the  doc- 
trine they  profess,  but  it  is  because  they  do  not  obey 
them. 

X.  It  was  a  sound  remark  of  Dr.  Franklin,  the 
most  eminent  of  our  philosophers,  that  uno  system  in 
the  Christian  world  was  so  well  calculated  to  promote 
the  interest  of  society,  as  the  doctrine  which  showed  a 
God  reconciling  a  lapsed  world  unto  himself."  We 
have  this  on  the  authority  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Bache, 
in  whose  house  he  died.  It  appeared  first  in  England, 
in  the  "New  Monthly  Magazine,"  and  was  afterwards 
copied  into  the  "  Mirror,"  Vol.  IX.  p.  208.  See 
"Modern  History  of  Universalism,"  p.  413.  Such 
was  the  sentiment  of  that  great  philosopher.  A  simi- 
lar acknowledgment  was  made  by  the  eminent  philoso- 
pher and  divine,  Dr.  Joseph  Priestley.  He  said,  in  a 
sermon  delivered  in  the  Lombard  Street  church,  in 
Philadelphia,  "  I  express  my  concurrence  with  the 
minister,  and  the  congregation  worshipping  here,  in 
their  opinion  concerning  the  final  happiness  of  all  the 
human  race,  —  a  doctrine  eminently  calculated  to  pro- 
mote alike  gratitude  to  God,  and  consequently  every 


WHAT  ARE  THE  DUTIES  OF  UNIVERSALISTS  ?     293 

other  virtue  ;  and,  since  this  doctrine  is  perfectly  con- 
sistent with  the  belief  of  the  adequate  punishment  of 
sin,  it  is  far  from  giving  any  encouragement  to  sin- 
ners." "Modern  History  of  Universalism,"  p.  260. 
If  the  sentiment  of  these  two  eminent  philosophers  be 
true,  (and  Universalists  surely  will  not  dispute  it,)  how 
necessary  is  it,  that  all  who  profess  the"  doctrine  of  uni- 
versal love,  should  manifest  the  power  of  it  in  their  ac- 
tions. They  should  let  their  souls  be  each  a  mirror, 
in  which  the  image  of  the  doctrine  shall  be  seen.  We 
ask  of  them  only,  that  they  sedulously  endeavour  to  un- 
derstand the  nature,  and  feel  the  power,  and  display  the 
excellence,  of  their  faith.  Then  will  they  honor  and 
glorify  God,  in  their  bodies  and  spirits  which  are  his, 
and  live  in  constant  good-will  towards  their  fellow-men. 
They  will  hate  sin,  and  flee  from  it,  not  on  account  of 
punishment  merely,  but  because  it  is  a  violation  of  the 
commandments  of  God.  In  every  event  of  life,  they 
will  recognise  his  overruling  hand.  They  will  part  with 
all  they  hold  dear  on  earth,  if  it  be  God's  will ;  and 
with  humble  resignation  they  will  kiss  the  rod  with 
which  they  are  smitten.  And  when,  at  last,  they  are 
summoned  to  depart,  hope  shall  lift  up  its  tearless  eye 
to  the  throne  of  God,  and  the  spirit  shall  return  to  Him 
who  gave  it. 

XL  If  there  be  any  one  thing  which  particularly 
concerns  the  substantial  interests  of  the  Universalist  de- 
nomination, it  is  the  formation  of  Vital  Godliness.  We 
do  not  mean  that  Universalists  should  become  the  en- 
couragers  and  promoters  of  fanaticism,  in  any  of  its 
protean  forms,  for  we  have  yet  to  learn,  that  any  of 
these  are  identical  with  vital  godliness.  But  is  it  de- 
manded what  we  mean  by  the  phrase  which  we  have 
employed  ?  Our  answer  is  simply  this  :  We  mean 
those  peculiar  exercises  of  the  mind  and  the  affections, 
which  the  doctrines  embraced  by  Universalists  are  so 
preeminently  calculated  to  produce,  if  they  be  allowed 
to  exert  their  legitimate  influence.  Universalists  be- 
lieve that  Jehovah  is  as  wise,  and  as  powerful,  and  as 
25* 


294  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

good,  as  the  best  man  on  earth  could  desire  him  to  be, 
—  in  short,  that  his  perfections  infinitely  transcend  the 
most  enlarged  conceptions  of  the  human  mind.  Can 
we,  as  Universalists,  contemplate  such  a  being,  espe- 
cially in  his  relation  to  us  as  a  Father,  without  feeling 
a  holy  reverence  for  his  name,  and  a  filial  confidence  in 
his  goodness  ?  Can  we  contemplate  his  impartial  good- 
ness to  the  children  of  men,  as  displayed  in  Providence 
and  grace,  without  feeling  that  it  is  our  duty  to  cherish 
a  spirit  of  good-will  towards  all  the  human  race  ? 

Vital  godliness,  as  thus  explained,  signifies,  there- 
fore, love  to  God,  and  love  to  man.  If  we  love  God, 
we  shall  keep  his  commandments.  We  shall  delight 
to  worship  him.  We  shall  delight  to  speak  of  his  lov- 
ing kindness  and  his  tender  mercy.  We  shall  delight 
to  recommend,  and  to  exhort  our  fellow-men  to  trust 
in  the  goodness  of  our  heavenly  Father,  as  manifested 
through  his  beloved  Son.  And,  if  we  cherish  the  gen- 
uine spirit  of  philanthropy  in  our  hearts,  we  shall  as- 
suredly strive  to  promote  the  good  of  our  fellow-crea- 
tures by  every  practicable  means  within  the  compass  of 
our  ability. 

Reader,  behold  the  mark  of  the  prize  of  thy  high 
calling  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  put  forth  all  thy  energies 
for  its  attainment,  and  depend  on  it,  thou  shalt  know 
from  experience  the  power  of  religion  in  the  soul. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ON  THE  FORMATION  OF  UNIVERSALIST  SOCIETIES. 

I.  ALL  religious  societies  should  be  formed  agreea- 
bly to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  State  to  which 
they  belong.  In  Massachusetts,  the  rights  and  duties 
of  religious  societies,  and  the  privileges  of  members, 
are  set  forth  in  the  Eleventh  Article  of  Amendments 
to  the  Constitution,  and  in  the  Twentieth  Chapter  of 


FORMATION  OF  UNIVERSALIST  SOCIETIES.         295 

the  Revised  Statutes.  As  Universalists  should  always 
be  careful  to  pay  the  strictest  deference  to  the  laws,  we 
shall  here  introduce  the  article  from  the  Constitution, 
and  give  entire  the  chapter  from  the  Statutes. 

IT.     RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  ESTABLISHED. 

"  Article  11  [of  Amendments].  Instead  of  the  third  article  of  the 
Bill  of  Rights,  the  following  modification  and  amendment  thereof  is 
substituted. 

"  As  the  public  worship  of  God,  and  instructions  in  piety,  religion, 
and  morality,  promote  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  a  people,  and 
the  security  of  a  republican  government,  therefore,  the  several  reli- 
gious societies  of  this  Commonwealth,  whether  corporate  or  unincor- 
porate,  at  any  meeting  legally  warned  and  holden  for  that  purpose, 
shall  ever  have  the  right  to  elect  their  pastors  or  religious  teachers,  to 
contract  with  them  for  their  support,  to  raise  money  for  erecting  and 
repairing  houses  for  public  worship,  for  the  maintainance  of  religious 
instruction,  and  for  the  payment  of  necessary  expenses  :  And  all  per- 
sons belonging  to  any  religious  society  shall  be  taken  and  held  to  be 
members,  until  they  shall  file  with  the  clerk  of  such  society  a  written 
notice  declaring  the  dissolution  of  their  membership,  and  thenceforth 
shall  not  be  liable  for  any  grant  or  contract  which  may  be  thereafter 
made  or  entered  into  by  such  society  :  And  all  religious  sects  and  de- 
nominations, demeaning  themselves  peaceably,  and  as  good  citizens 
of  the  Commonwealth,  shall  be  equally  under  the  protection  of  the 
law  ;  and  no  subordination  of  any  one  sect  or  denomination  to  anoth- 
er shall  ever  be  established  by  law." 

III.     REVISED  STATUTES,  CHAPTER  20. 

"  Section  1.  Every  parish  or  religious  society  heretofore  established 
is  declared  to  be  a  body  corporate,  with  all  the  powers  given  to  cor- 
porations by  the  forty-fourth  chapter ;  and  with  the  other  powers, 
privileges,  liabilities,  and  duties,  expressed  in  this  chapter. 

"  Sect.  2.  All  parishes  or  religious  societies,  whether  corporate  or 
unincorporate,  shall  continue  to  have  and  enjoy  their  existing  rights, 
privileges,  and  immunities,  except  so  far  as  the  same  may  be  limited 
or  modified  by  the  provisions  of  this  chapter,  and  the  eleventh  article 
of  the  amendments  of  the  constitution. 

"  Sect.  3.  The  respective  churches,  connected  and  associated  in 
public  worship,  with  such  parishes  and  religious  societies,  shall  con- 
tinue to  have,  exercise,  and  enjoy  all  their  accustomed  privileges  and 
liberties  respecting  divine  worship,  church  order,  and  discipline,  and 
shall  be  encouraged  in  the  peaceable  and  regular  enjoyment  and 
practice  thereof. 

"  Sect.  4.  All  persons  belonging  to  any  religious  society,  shall  be 
taken  and  held  to  be  members,  until  they  shall  file,  with  the  clerk  of 
such  society,  a  written  notice  declaring  the  dissolution  of  their  mem- 
bership, and  thenceforth  shall  not  be  liable  for  any  grant  or  contract, 
which  may  be  thereafter  made  or  entered  into  by  such  society  ;  and 
no  person  shall  hereafter  be  made  a  member  of  any  parish  or  reli- 
gious society,  without  his  consent  in  writing. 


296  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

"  Sect.  5.  Every  parish  and  religious  society  may  make  by-lawa, 
prescribing  the  manner  in  which  persons  may  become  members 
thereof;  provided  such  by-laws  be  not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  the 
Commonwealth. 

"  Sect.  6.  No  person  shall  have  a  right  to  vote  in  the  affairs  of 
any  parish  or  religious  society,  unless  he  is  a  member  thereof. 

"  Sect.  7.  The  qualified  voters  of  every  parish  and  incorporated 
religious  society,  and  of  every  religious  society  organized  according 
to  the  provisions  of  this  chapter,  shall  meet  in  the  month  of  March 
or  April  annually,  at  such  time  and  place  as  shall  be  appointed  by 
their  assessors  or  standing  committee,  and  shall  choose  a  clerk,  and 
two  or  more  assessors,  a  treasurer,  collector,  who  shall  be  sworn,  and 
such  other  officers  as  they  shall  think  necessary  ;  all  of  whom  shall 
continue  in  office  for  one  year,  and  until  others  are  chosen  and  qual- 
ified in  their  stead. 

"  Sect.  8.  All  meetings  shall  be  warned  in  such  manner,  as  the 
parish  or  society  shall  by  any  by-law  or  vote  provide ;  and  when  they 
shall  make  no  such  order,  the  meetings  shall  be  warned  in  such  man- 
ner, as  their  assessors  or  standing  committee  shall,  in  their  warrant 
for  such  meeting,  direct. 

"  Sect.  9.  At  all  such  meetings,  the  clerk  shall  preside  in  the 
choice  of  a  moderator;  and,  if  there  is  no  clerk,  or  if  he  is  absent, 
the  assessors  or  the  standing  committee,  or  any  one  of  them,  shall 
preside  in  the  choice  of  a  moderator ;  and  a  clerk  may  then  be  chosen, 
either  pro  tempore,  or  to  fill  the  vacancy,  as  the  case  may  require. 

"  Sect.  10.  The  moderator  may  administer  the  oath  of  office  to 
the  clerk  ;  and  the  clerk  may  administer  the  oath  to  the  assessors  and 
collector;  or  the  said  oaths  may  be  administered  by  any  justice  of  the 
peace  ;  and  they  shall  all  be  substantially  the  same,  as  are  required  to 
be  taken  by  the  clerk,  assessors,  and  collectors  of  towns. 

"Sect.  11.  The  moderator  shall  have  the  same  power,  in  govern- 
ing the  meeting,  that  is  given  to  the  moderator  of  a  town  meeting ; 
and  all  persons  guilty  of  disorderly  behaviour  at  the  meeting  of  any 
parish  or  religious  society,  shall  be  subjected  to  the  same  penalties 
and  punishments,  as  are  provided  for  the  like  offences  in  town  meet- 
ings ;  all  the  pecuniary  penalties  to  enure  to  the  use  of  the  parish  or 
society,  and  to  be  recovered  in  the  manner  prescribed  in  the  case  of 
offences  at  town  meetings. 

"  Sect.  12.  The  person  chosen  collector  shall,  if  present,  forth- 
with declare  his  acceptance  or  refusal  of  the  office  ;  and  in  case  of 
non-acceptance,  the  parish  or  society  shall  proceed  to  a  new  choice, 
and  so  from  time  to  time,  until  one  shall  accept  and  be  sworn. 

**  Sect.  13.  Any  person  so  chosen,  who  shall  be  present  and  shall 
not  declare  his  acceptance  of  the  office  of  collector,  or  who  shall,  for 
the  space  of  seven  days,  after  being  summoned  by  a  constable  or  any 
other  person,  whom  the  clerk  or  assessors  may  appoint  for  that  pur- 
pose, neglect  to  take  the  oath  of  office,  shall  be  considered  as  refus- 
ing to  accept  the  office. 

"  Sect.  14.  The  prudential  affairs  of  parishes  and  religious  socie- 
ties shall  be  managed  by  their  assessors,  or  by  a  standing  committee, 
to  be  specially  appointed  for  that  purpose  ;  and  the  said  assessors  or 
committee  shall  have  like  authority,  for  calling  meetings  of  the  par- 
ish or  society,  as  selectmen  have  for  calling  town  meetings. 


FORMATION  OF  UNIVERSALIST  SOCIETIES.         29? 

"  Sect.  15  All  vacancies,  that  shall  occur  after  the  annual  meet- 
ing, in  any  of  the  annual'  offices,  may  be  filled  at  any  other  legal 
meeting. 

"  Sect.  16.  When  five  or  more  of  the  qualified  voters  of  any  par- 
ish or  religious  society  shall  signify,  in  writing,  their  desire  to  have 
any  matter  inserted  in  a  warrant  for  calling  a  meeting,  the  assessors 
or  committee  shall  insert  the  same  in  the  next  warrant  they  shall  is- 
sue for  that  purpose ;  and  nothing  acted  upon  shall  have  any  legal 
operation,  unless  the  subject  matter  thereof  shall  have  been  inserted 
in  the  warrant  for  calling  the  meeting. 

"  Sect.  17.  In  case  the  assessors  or  committee  of  any  parish  or 
religious  society  shall  unreasonably  refuse  to  call  a  meeting,  or  if 
there  are  no  assessors  or  committee  qualified  to  call  one,  any  justice 
of  the  peace  for  the  county,  upon  the  application  of  five  or  more  of 
the  qualified  voters,  may  call  a  meeting,  in  the  same  manner  as  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  is  authorized  to  call  a  town  meeting. 

"  Sect.  18.  The  qualified  voters  of  every  parish  and  religious  so- 
ciety, at  the  annual  meeting,  or  at  any  other  meeting,  regularly  no- 
tified seven  days  at  least  before  the  holding  thereof,  may  grant  and 
vole  such  sums  of  money,  as  they  shall  judge  necessary  for  the  set- 
tlement, maintainance,  and  support  of  ministers  or  public  teachers 
of  religion;  for  the  building  or  repairing  of  houses  of  public  wor- 
ship ;  for  sacred  music ;  for  the  purchase  and  preservation  of  burial- 
grounds  ;  and  for  all  other  necessary  parish  charges  :  all  which  sums 
shall  be  assessed  on  the  polls  and  estates  of  all  the  members  of  the 
parish  or  society,  in  the  same  manner  and  proportion  as  town  taxes 
are  by  law  assessed. 

"  Sect.  19.  Nothing  contained  in  this  chapter  shall  enlarge  or  di- 
minish the  powers  of  taxation,  enjoyed  by  any  parish  or  religious 
society,  by  virtue  of  any  special  law  or  act  of  incorporation. 

;<  Sect.  20.  No  corporation  shall  be  taxed  for  any  parochial  pur- 
pose. 

"  Sect.  21.  None  of  the  provisions  of  this  chapter  shall  be  con- 
strued to  impair  any  existing  rights  of  property  of  any  territorial 
parish. 

"  Sect.  22.  The  inhabitants  of  every  parish  and  religious  society 
may,  by  vote,  appoint  ohe  or  more  agents  or  attorneys  to  appear  for 
and  represent  them,  in  any  suit  at  law  and  upon  any  other  occasion. 

"  Sect.  23.  Every  parish  and  religious  society  may  appoint  their 
treasurer  to  be  the  collector  of  their  taxes ;  and,  when  so  appointed, 
he  shall  have  the  like  powers,  and  shall  proceed  in  like  manner,  in 
enforcing  the  collection  of  such  taxes,  after  the  expiration  of  the 
time,  fixed  by  the  parish  or  society  for  the  payment  thereof,  as  is  pro- 
vided in  the  eighth  chapter,  for  the  collection  of  taxes  by  the  collect- 
ors of  towns. 

"  Sect.  24.  Every  parish  and  religious  society  may  authorize  their 
treasurer  and  collector  to  make  an  abatement  of  such  sum,  as  they 
shall  agree  upon  at  their  annual  meeting,  to  all  those  who  make  vol- 
untary payment  of  their  taxes,  within  such  period  as  shall  be  fixed 
on  for  that  purpose  by  the  parish  or  society. 

"  Sect.  25.  In  case  any  donation,  gift,  or  grant,  shall  be  made  to 
any  unincorporated  religious  society,  such  society  shall  have  the  like 
power  to  manage,  use,  and  employ  the  same,  according  to  the  terms 


298  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

and  conditions,  on  which  the  same  may  be  made,  as  incorporated  so- 
cieties now  have,  or  may  hereafter  have,  by  law  ;  to  elect  suitable 
trustees,  agents,  or  officers  therefor ;  and  to  prosecute  and  sue  for  any 
right  which  may  vest  in  them,  in  consequence  of  such  donation,  gift, 
or  grant ;  and  such  a  society  shall  be  a  corporation,  so  far  as  may  be 
necessary  for  the  purposes  expressed  in  this  section. 

"  Sect.  26.  Any  parish,  which,  from  the  want  of  officers,  or  any 
other  cause,  maybe  unable  to  assemble  in  the  usual  manner, and  any 
religious  society,  that  is  not  incorporated,  provided  they  contain  re- 
spectively ten  or  more  qualified  voters,  may  organize  themselves  as  a 
corporation,  in  the  manner  and  for  the  purposes  expressed  in  the  fol- 
lowing sections. 

"  Sect.  27.  Any  justice  of  the  peace  for  the  county  in  which  such 
parish  or  religious  society  may  be,  upon  application  in  writing  by 
any  five  or  more  of  the  qualified  voters  thereof,  may  issue  his  warrant 
for  calling  a  meeting  of  the  same. 

"  Sect.  28.  The  warrant  shall  state  the  objects  of  the  meeting,  and 
shall  be  directed  to  some  one  of  the  applicants  therefor,  requiring 
him  to  warn  the  qualified  voters  of  the  parish  or  society  to  meet  at 
such  time  and  place  as  shall  be  appointed  in  the  warrant ;  and,  upon 
due  return  thereof,  the  same  justice,  or  any  other  justice  of  the  peace 
for  the  county,  may  preside  at  such  meeting,  for  the  choice  and  qual- 
ification of  a  clerk,  who  shall  enter  at  large,  upon  the  records  of  the 
parish  or  society,  the  proceedings  had  in  the  organization  thereof; 
and  the  parish  or  society  may  thereupon  proceed  to  choose  a  modera- 
tor, and  to  do  all  such  other  things,  as  parishes  are  by  law  authorized 
to  do  at  their  annual  meetings ;  provided  the  subject  matter  thereof 
shall  be  inserted  in  said  warrant. 

"  Sect.  29.  Every  parish  and  religious  society,  organized  as  pro- 
vided in  the  three  preceding  sections,  shall  become  a  corporation, 
and  shall  have  all  the  powers  and  privileges,  and  be  subject  to  all  the 
duties,  liabilities,  and  requirements,  which  incorporated  religious  so- 
cieties may,  by  law,  have  or  be  subject  to,  with  power  to  have  and 
hold  so  much  estate,  real  or  personal,  as  may  be  necessary  for  the 
objects  of  such  organization,  and  no  more;  provided,  that  all  the 
powers,  derived  from  any  such  organization,  may  at  any  time  be  re- 
voked by  the  legislature. 

"  Sect.  30.  The  assessors  of  every  parish  and  religious  society,  in 
assessing  taxes  for  the  support  of  public  worship,  and  for  other  parish 
charges,  shall  assess  the  same  upon  all  the  property,  (not  exempted 
by  law  from  taxation,)  of  all  the  members  of  such  parish  or  society, 
including  all  their  real  estate  within  the  State,  in  whatever  part 
thereof  it  may  be  situated,  and  all  their  personal  estate,  wherever  the 
same  may  be ;  and  no  citizen  shall  be  liable  to  pay  any  tax  for  the 
support  of  public  worship,  or  for  other  parish  charges,  to  any  parish 
or  religious  society,  other  than  to  that  of  which  he  is  a  member. 

"  Sect.  31.  Whenever  the  proprietors  of  any  church,  meeting- 
house, or  other  house  of  public  worship,  shall  deem  it  expedient  to 
alter,  enlarge,  repair,  rebuild,  or  remove  the  same,  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  them,  at  a  legal  meeting,  called  for  that  purpose,  to  raise  such 
sums  of  money,  as  they  may  judge  necessary,  to  carry  any  of  said 
purposes  into  effect,  and  to  purchase  any  land  necessary  for  the 
same. 


FORMATION  OF  UNIVERSALIST  SOCIETIES.         299 

"  Sect.  32.  Such  moneys  may  be  assessed  on  the  pews  in  such 
church  or  house,  and  the  assessment  may  be  committed  to  the  treasu- 
rer, chosen  by  said  proprietors  to  receive  the  same;  and  the  treasurer 
shall  forthwith  give  notice  thereof,  by  posting  up  an  advertisement 
at  the  principal  outer  door  of  such  house,  slating  the  completion  of 
such  assessment,  and  the  day  of  delivery  thereof  to  him ;  and  if  said 
taxes,  or  any  part  thereof,  remain  unpaid  for  three  months,  after  the 
posting  up  of  notifications  as  aforesaid,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
treasurer  to  collect  the  same  forthwith,  by  sales  at  public  auction  of 
the  pews,  whereon  the  tax  or  any  part  thereof  shall  remain  unpaid,  in 
the  manner  provided  in  the  following  sections. 

"  Sect.  33.  When  it  shall  become  the  duty  of  the  treasurer,  to  sell 
any  pew  for  taxes,  he  shall  post  up  a  notification  of  the  intended  sale 
thereof,  at  the  principal  outer  door  of  such  church  or  house,  at  least 
three  weeks  before  the  time  of  sale,  therein  setting  forth  the  number 
of  the  pew,  if  any,  the  name  of  the  owner  or  occupant,  if  known, 
and  the  amount  of  the  tax  due  thereon  ;  and  if  said  tax  or  any  part 
thereof  shall  remain  unpaid,  at  the  time  appointed  for  such  sale,  the 
treasurer  shall  sell  the  pew,  by  public  auction,  to  the  highest  bidder, 
and  shall  execute  and  deliver,  to  the  purchaser,  a  sufficient  deed  of 
conveyance  of  the  same ;  and  the  money  arising  from  such  sale, 
beyond  the  taxes  and  incidental  reasonable  charges,  shall  be  paid  by 
the  treasurer  to  the  former  owner  of  the  pew  so  sold,  or  to  his  as- 
signs. 

"  Sect.  34.  The  affidavit  of  any  disinterested  person,  annexed  to 
any  original  notification,  or  to  a  copy  thereof,  made  before  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  arid  recorded  on  the  proprietor's  records,  within  six 
months  next  after  such  sale,  shall  be  allowed,  as  one  mode  of  proof 
of  the  posting  up  of  the  notifications  herein  before  required. 

"  Sect.  35.  Any  meeting  of  the  proprietors  of  a  church  or  house  of 
public  worship,  for  any  of  the  purposes  aforesaid,  may  be  called  by  a 
warrant  from  a  justice  of  the  peace,  granted  on  application  to  him  in 
writing,  made  by  any  five  of  said  proprietors,  which  warrant  shall  be 
directed  to  one  of  the  applicants ;  or  such  meeting  may  be  called  by 
a  notification  by  the  clerk  of  said  proprietors,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
warn  a  meeting,  on  a  like  application  to  him ;  and,  in  either  case, 
such  meeting  may  be  warned  by  posting  up  a  notification  thereof,  at 
the  principal  outer  door  of  the  church  or  house,  fourteen  days  at  least 
before  the  time  appointed  for  the  meeting. 

"  Sect.  36.  Whenever  any  such  proprietors  shall  deem  it  necessa- 
ry, for  the  purpose  of  altering,  enlarging,  repairing,  rebuilding,  or 
removing  their  church  or  house,  to  take  down  any  pews  therein,  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  them  so  to  do ;  such  pews  being  first  appraised  by 
any  three  or  more  disinterested  persons,  chosen  by  said  proprietors  for 
that  purpose ;  and  the  pews  newly  erected,  shall  be  sold  by  the  treas- 
urer of  the  proprietors,  by  public  auction,  to  the  highest  bidder,  and 
deeds  thereof  shall  be  given,  in  like  manner  as  when  they  are  sold  for 
the  payment  of  taxes ;  and  the  moneys  arising  from  such  sale  shall 
be  applied,  so  far  as  may  be  necessary,  to  paying  the  appraised  value 
of  the  pews  taken  down  to  the  owners  thereof;  and  the  deficiency, 
if  any,  shall  be  paid  by  the  proprietors  of  such  church  or  house,  with- 
in thirty  days  next  after  the  sale. 

"  Sect.  37.     Whenever  any  parish  or  religious  society,  being  the 


300  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

owner  of  any  church,  meeting-house,  or  other  house  of  public  wor- 
ship, shall  deem  it  necessary,  for  the  purpose  of  altering,  enlarging, 
repairing,  rebuilding,  or  removing  any  such  church  or  house,  to  take 
down  any  pews  therein,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  them  so  to  do ;  and,  in 
such  case,  the  like  regulations  shall  be  observed,  and  the  like  pro- 
ceedings had,  as  are  provided  in  the  preceding  section. 

"  Sect.  38.  Nothing  contained  in  the  two  preceding  sections  shall 
entitle  any  person  to  compensation  for  a  pew  so  taken  down,  in  any 
case,  where  such  church  or  house  shall  have  become  unfit  for  the 
purposes  of  public  worship. 

"  DONATIONS  AND  GRANTS  FOR  PIOUS  AND   CHARITABLE  USES. 

"  Sect.  39.  The  deacons,  churchwardens,  or  other  similar  officers 
of  all  churches  or  religious  societies,  if  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  deemed  bodies  corporate,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  and  hold- 
ing, in  succession,  all  grants  and  donations,  whether  of  real  or  per- 
sonal estate,  made  either  to  them  and  their  successors,  or  to  their  re- 
spective churches,  or  to  the  poor  of  their  churches. 

"  Sect.  40.  In  all  cases,  where  the  ministers,  elders,  or  vestry  of 
any  church  shall,  in  the  grants  or  donations  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding section,  have  been  joined  with  such  deacons  or  church  war- 
dens as  donees  or  grantees,  such  officers  and  their  successors,  to- 
gether with  the  deacons  or  churchwardens,  shall  be  deemed  the 
corporation,  for  the  purposes  of  such  grants  and  donations. 

"  Sect.  41.  The  minister  of  every  church  or  religious  society,  of 
whatever  denomination,  if  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  shall  be 
capable  of  taking,  in  succession,  any  parsonage  land  granted  to  the 
minister  and  his  successors,  or  to  the  use  of  the  ministers,  or  granted 
by  any  words  of  the  like  impoit,  and  may  prosecute  and  defend,  in 
all  actions  touching  the  same. 

"  Sect.  42.  No  conveyance  of  the  lands  of  any  church  shall  be 
effectual  to  pass  the  same,  if  made  by  the  deacons  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  church,  or  of  a  committeee  of  the  church,  appointed  for 
that  purpose,  or  if  made  by  the  churchwardens,  without  the  consent 
of  the  vestry. 

"  Sect.  43.  No  conveyance,  made  by  any  minister,  of  lands  held 
by  him  in  succession,  shall  be  valid  any  longer  than  he  shall  continue 
to  be  such  minister,  unless  such  conveyance  shall  be  made  with  the 
consent  of  the  town,  parish,  or  religious  society,  of  which  he  is  min- 
ister, or  unless  he  be  a  minister  of  an  episcopal  church,  and  shall 
make  the  conveyance  with  the  consent  of  the  vestry. 

"  Sect.  44.  The  several  churches,  other  than  those  of  the  episco- 
pal denomination,  are  authorized  to  choose  committees,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  settling  the  accounts  of  the  deacons  and  other  church  offi- 
cers, and,  if  necessary,  to  commence  and  prosecute  any  suits  in  the 
name  of  the  church,  against  the  said  deacons  or  other  officers,  touch- 
ing the  same. 

"  Sect.  45.  The  income  of  any  such  grant  or  donation,  made  to  or 
for  the  use  of  any  church,  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  two  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  exclusive  of  the  income  of  any  parsonage  lands, 
granted  to  or  for  the  use  of  the  ministry. 

"  Sect.  46.  The  overseers  of  each  monthly  meeting  of  the  people 
called  Friends  or  Quakers  shall  be  a  body  corporate,  for  the  purpose 


FORMATION  OF  UNIVERSALIST  SOCIETIES.         301 

of  taking  and  holding,  in  succession,  all  grants  and  donations  of  real 
or  personal  estate,  made  to  the  use  of  such  meeting,  or  to  the  use  of 
any  preparative  meeting  belonging  thereto ;  and  to  aliene  or  manage 
such  real  and  personal  estate,  according  to  the  terms  and  conditions 
of  the  grants  and  donations ;  and  to  prosecute  and  defend  in  any 
action  touching  the  same  ;  provided,  that  the  income  of  the  grants 
and  donations,  to  any  one  of  such  meetings,  for  the  uses  aforesaid, 
shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars  a  year." 

IV.  The  following  extracts  are  made  from  the  New 
York  Statute,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  provide  for  the  in- 
corporation of  Religious  Societies." 

1.  "Fifteen  days  previous  to  forming  a  society,  notice  shall  be  giv- 
en at  the  place  where  worship  is  wont  to  be  held,  of  such  intention. 
This  notice  to  be  given  for  two  successive  Sabbaths. 

2.  •*'  Two  individuals  from  the  society  to  be  formed  to  '  be  nomina- 
ted by  a  majority  of  the  members  present,  shall  preside  at  such  elec- 
tion, receive  the  votes  of  the  electors,  and  certify  under  their  hands 
and  seals  the  names  of  those  elected  as  trustees.'     There  shall  not 
be  less  than  three  nor  exceeding  nine  trustees. 

3.  "  By  such  act,  the  trustees  and  their  successors  become  a  body 
corporate,  and  may  be  so  recorded  by  the  county  clerk,  who  is  enti- 
tled, for  the  recording  of  the  certificate  of  incorporation,  to  seventy- 
five  cents,  and  no  more. 

4.  "The  trustees  shall  have  and  use  a  common  seal,  and  take 
charge  of  all  temporalities  belonging  to  such  society. 

5.  "The  trustees  shall  continue  in  office  three  years,  but  those 
first  chosen  shall  be  divided  into  three  lots,  numbered  one,  two,  and 
three,  so  that  there  may  be  annually  a  third  part  of  the  whole  num- 
ber chosen.     A  month's  notice  shall  be  given  when  a  vacancy  is  to 
be  filled,  and  the  election  shall  take  place  at  least  six  days  before  the 
vacancy  occurs. 

6.  "  No  person  is  eligible  to  the  office  of  trustee  who  has  not  been 
a  stated  attendant  on  the  worship  of  said  society  and  contributed  to 
its  support,  for  one  year  previous  to  his  election." 

V.  CONSTITUTION    OF    A   UNIVERSALIST  SOCIETY. 

We,  the  subscribers,  feeling  desirous  to  "  grow  in  grace,  and  in 
the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,"  do  hereby 
form  ourselves  into  a  society,  that  we  may  be  helps  to  each  other, 
and  that  by  our  united  energies  we  may  better  serve  the  purposes  of 
religion  and  of  truth.  We  cheerfully  adopt,  and  subscribe  the  fol- 
lowing Constitution,  as  the  basis.,of  our  government. 

1.  This  Society  shall  be  called  the  "First,  [Second,  or  Third,  as 
the  case  may  be,]  Universalist  Society  in .  ." 

2.  The  object  of  this  society  shall  be  the  promotion  of  truth  and 
morality  among  its  members,  and  also  in  the  world  at  large  ;  and  as 
the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  calculated  above  all  truth  to 
inspire  the  heart  with  the  emotions  of  benevolence  and  virtue,  this 
society  shall  deem  it  one  of  its  main  objects  to  support  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  according  to  the  society's  ability,  and  to  aid  in  any 
other  practicable  way,  in  spreading  a  knowledge  of  it  among  men. 

26 


302  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

3.  This  society  adopt,  as  the  basis  of  its  religious  faith,  the  Pro- 
fession of  Belief  accepted  by  the  General  Convention  of  Universa- 
lists,  at  its  session  in  Winchester,  New  Hampshire,  A.  D.  1803, 
which  is  in  the  following  words  : 

"  We  believe  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, contain  a  revelation  of  the  character  of  God,  and  of  the 
duty,  interest,  and  final  destination  of  mankind. 

"  We  believe  there  is  one  God,  whose  nature  is  love,  revealed  in 
one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  one  Holy  Spirit  of  grace,  who  will  finally 
restore  the  whole  family  of  mankind  to  holiness  and  happiness. 

"  We  believe  that  holiness  and  true  happiness  are  inseparably 
connected ;  and  that  believers  ought  to  maintain  order,  and  practise 
good  works,  for  these  things  are  good  and  profitable  unto  men." 

4.  Any  person  sustaining  a  good  moral  character,  and  assenting  to 
the  aforesaid  Profession  of  Faith,  may  be  admitted  a  member  of  this 
society,  on  application  to  that  effect,  by  a  majority  of  votes,  at  any 
regular  meeting. 

5.  It  shall  be  regarded  as  the  duty  of  every  member  to  adorn  the 
doctrine  of  the  Lord  Jesus  with  a  holy  life  and  conversation,  to  con- 
tribute according  to  his  ability,  in  the  manner  determined  on  by  the 
majority,  towards  the  support  of  public  worship,  and  the  other  neces- 
sary expenses  of  the  society ;   to  attend  upon  the  exercises  of  the 
sanctuary,  as  well  as  the  regular  meetings  of  the  society  for  business  ; 
and  a  habitual  neglect  of  either  of  these  duties  shall  be  regarded  as 
a  sufficient  reason  for  striking  the  name  of  any  member  from  the 
roll,  by  a  vote  of  the  majority. 

6.  This  society  shall  have  an  annual  meeting,  which  shall  be  held 

on  the day  of ,  at  such  place  as  the  Standing  Committee 

may  direct,  at  which  meeting  the  officers  of  the  society  shall  be 
elected,  and  the  sum  necessary  to  be  raised,  and  manner  of  raising 
money  for  the  ensuing  year,  shall  be  determined  on. 

[In  Massachusetts  the  annual  meeting  must  be  held  either  in 
March  or  April.  See  section  7,  of  the  chapter  before  given.] 

7.  The  officers  of  the  society,  shall  be,  1st,  a  Clerk,  who  shall 
keep  a  true  and  faithful  record  of  its  proceedings;  2d,  a  Treasurer, 
to  receive  all  moneys,  and  pay  them  out  at  the  order  of  the  Standing 
Committee;  3d,  a  Standing  Committee,  who  shall  be  the  executive 
power  of  the  society,  and  4th,  a  Board  of  three  Assessors,  to  appor- 
tion all  taxes,  if  the  society  should  see  fit  to  raise  money  in  that 
manner. 

[The  Clerk  may  be  sworn  by  the  Moderator;  the  other  officers 
may  be  sworn  by  the  Clerk,  or  by  any  Justice  of  the  Peace.  See 
section  10.] 

8.  The  meetings  of  this  society  shall  be  called  either  by  a  warrant 
being  left  at  the  house  of  each  member,  or  by  posting  it  at  the  place 
at  which  the  society  holds  its  meetings  for  public  worship  ;  and  the 
same  length  of  notice  shall  be  given  as  is  required  in  calling  a  meet- 
ing of  the  town  in  which  the  society  may  exist;  and  the  subject 
matter  to  be  acted  upon  at  the  meeting,  shall  be  fairly  and  fully 
stated  in  the  warrant,  and  in  the  plainest  possible  manner. 

9.  Ten  members  shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business;  but  a 
less  number  may  adjourn. 

10.  This  Constitution  may  be  amended  in  the  following  manner  : 


FORMATION  OF  UMVERSALIST  SOCIETIES.         303 

the  amendment  shall  be  proposed,  and  entered  upon  the  Record,  and 
shall  lay  over  till  the  next  regular  meeting ;  when,  if  assented  to  by 
a  majority,  it  shall  become  a  part  of  the  Constitution. 

VI.  Let  it  be  observed,  once  for  all,  that  the  Con- 
stitution and  By-Laws  of  any  society  must  conform  to 
the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the    State  in  which  the 
society  exists  ;  otherwise,  they  are,  of  course,  null  and 
void.     With  a  due  regard  to  the  laws,  a  society  may 
make  any  by-laws  it  sees  fit  to ;  and  every  society  has 
the  fullest  right  to  regulate,  as  it  sees  best,  the  admis- 
sion and  expulsion  of  members. 

VII.  Having  thus  marked  out  the  way  in  which  be- 
lievers may  form  themselves  into  societies,  we  propose 
to  speak  in  the  next  instance  of  Christian  zeal.     It  is 
of  great  importance,  that  every  member  of  a  religious 
society  should  cherish  an  enlightened,   steady,   active 
zeal.     By  zeal  we  do  not  mean  mere  animal  excite- 
ment, the  wild-fire  of  human  passion,  which,  like  some 
combustible  material,  burns  and  makes  a  great  light  for 
a  few  moments,  and  then  expires,  and  leaves  you  still 
more  sensible  of  the  surrounding  darkness.     Christian 
zeal  does  not  operate  in  this  manner.     It  is  a  heartfelt 
engagedness,  a  deep  and  abiding  interest,  a  sense  of  the 
importance  of  the  work  to  be  done,  an  untiring  perse- 
verance, accompanied  always  with  the  tenderness  of 
love.     Such  is  pure  Christian  zeal ;  the  best  example 
of  which,  that  the  world  hath  ever  seen,  we  find  in  the 
character  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  apostle  says,  "it  is  good  to  be  zealously  affected 
always  in  a  good  thing."  Some  are  afraid  to  be  zeal- 
ous, lest  they  shall  have  a  zeal  unot  according  to 
knowledge  ; "  and  hence  they  are  moderate  in  every 
thing,  and  far  too  moderate  in  any  good  thing  they  un- 
dertake. It  is  surely  very  wise  to  be  certain  that  our 
zeal  is  according  to  knowledge ;  but  how  shall  we 
ascertain  ?  how  shall  we  determine  when  we  shall  be 
zealous,  and  when  we  shall  restrain  our  zeal  ?  Here  is 
the  rule,  —  "  It  is  good  to  be  zealously  affected  always 
in  a  good  thing."  Be  sure  that  the  object  is  a  good 


304  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

one,  and  then  you  never  need  fear  that  your  zeal  is 
misplaced,  —  be  then  "zealously  affected  always." 

What  more  noble  object  is  there  to  which  human 
zeal  may  be  directed,  than  the  inculcation  of  just  views 
of  God,  and  of  the  blissful  immortality  of  all  mankind  ? 
This  sentiment  wipes  the  tear  of  sorrow  away,  and  re- 
moves the  causes  of  anxiety,  despair,  insanity,  and 
suicide,  which  have  so  sorely  afflicted  the  community. 
What  more  noble  object  is  there  to  which  human  zeal 
may  be  directed  ?  — The  preachers  of  the  doctrine  of 
universal  mercy  may  well  be  zealous,  — zealous  always, 
for  it  is  go6d  to  be  zealously  affected  in  a  good  thing. 
Members  of  Universalist  societies  may  be  zealous. 
Their  object  is  a  good  one.  It  is  the  overthrow  of  the 
kingdom  of  darkness,  —  it  is  the  cause  of  philanthropy, 
and  the  highest  welfare  of  mankind.  It  is  the  cause  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty.  Their  design  is  to  make 
men  truly  happy,  by  exposing  and  bringing  into  discred- 
it, those  errors  which  are  the  fruitful  sources  of  their 
greatest  sorrows.  This  cause  does  not  require  of  men 
that  they  should  make  themselves  monks,  or  ascetics, 
or  self-torturers ;  but  it  'does  require  a  strong,  steady, 
and  unfailing  zeal  ;  and  a  truly  reasonable  man,  who  is 
not  buried  in  the  world  while  he  lives  in  it,  but  who 
gives  himself  time  to  reflect  upon  his  relations  and  his 
duties,  will  find  himself  moved  by  such  a  zeal.  And 
here  is  one  word  which  we  wish  to  drop  for  the  benefit 
of  our  societies  in  general ;  if  you  wish  to  convert  oth- 
ers to  the  truth,  and  bring  them  to  be  co-workers  with 
you  in  the  great  and  good  cause  which  you  have  es- 
poused, you  must  be  zealous  yourselves.  You  never 
can  make  others  zealous  unless  you  are  so.  No  man 
can  impart  a  feeling  to  others,  that  he  does  not  pos- 
sess in  himself.  You  may  as  well  endeavour  to  warm 
another  with  an  application  of  ice,  as  to  make  him  feel 
zealous  in  a  cause  in  which  you  show  no  interest  your- 
selves. If  you  will  consider  how  much  zeal  will  do  in 
a  bad  cause,  you  will  have  a  tolerable  idea  of  what  it 
will  do  in  a  good  cause.  How  much  have  the  Catholic 


FORMATION  OF  UN1VERSAL1ST  SOCIETIES.         305 

zealots  in 'Europe  been  able  to  do  for  the  Roman 
Church,  by  nothing  but  their  zeal.  —  Every  reflecting 
man  knows,  that  men  are  brought  sometimes  to  respect 
and  venerate  even  the  most  absurd  notions,  and  practi- 
ces, merely  by  the  zeal  of  those  who  undertake  to  es- 
tablish them.  If  a  man  appears  to  be  sincere  and 
earnest,  and  fully  engrossed  in  any  scheme,  (it  does  not 
matter  so  much  what  it  is,)  others  will  respect  .it,  and 
will  think  there  is  surely  something  of  reality  in  it  ;  but 
they  will  never  think  so,  if  he  shows  that  he  does  not 
think  so  himself.  Now  apply  this  principle  to  a  good 
cause,  which  will  do  so  much  even  for  a  bad  one,  and  it 
becomes  much  more  efficient.  The  members  of  almost 
every  society  which  does  not  flourish,  must  take  the 
blame  to  themselves,  for  they  might  flourish,  if  they 
would  be  steadily  engaged.  They  may  overcome  any 
obstacles,  and  accomplish  any  purposes,  and  win  over 
others  to  their  own  views,  feelings,  and  pursuits,  by 
showing  that  they  respect  their  own  cause,  that  they 
believe  there  is  something  of  reality,  —  something  wor- 
thy of  the  attention  of  men,  —  in  it  ;  and  depend  upon 
it,  brethren,  YOU  CANNOT  DO  IT  WITHOUT. 

VIII.  As  a  member  of  a  Universalist  society,  it 
will  justly  be  expected  of  you,  that  you  will  do  every 
thing  you  can  to  advance  the  cause  of  Universalism  in 
the  world.  It  is  the  cause  of  God's  grace  ;  it  vindi- 
cates his  character  ;  it  is  the  cause  of  human  morality, 
happiness,  and  consolation  ;  and  is  worthy  of  your  high- 
est efforts.  Let  all  your  exertions  be  directed  to  the 
advancement  of  truth.  Bend  your  private  partialities 
to  this  great  object  in  all  things.  The  fault  of  many 
members  of  Universalist  societies  is,  that  they  do  not 
feel  their  responsibilities.  To  join  a  society  is  not  the 
only  duty  ;  it  is  necessary  to  feel,  continually,  that  you 
are  a  member.  In  pecuniary  things,  do  as  much  as  you 
are  able,  without  injury  to  yourself,  and  do  no  more.  If 
your  income  is  small,  retrench  your  expenses  as  well  in 
the  superfluities  of  your  family  as  in  your  contributions 
to  the  cause  of  religion.  But  this  is  not  all,  that  the 
26* 


306  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNI  VERBALISM. 

0 

members  of  a  society  should  do.  You  should  make  it 
a  rule  to  be  present  at  all  the  meetings  of  the  society, 
both  for  business  and  for  public  worship.  Show  your 
zeal  for  the  cause  by  your  presence  ;  it  is  better  than 
ten  thousand  professions.  It  is  too  often  the  case,  that 
the  responsibility  of  doing  the  annual  business  of  a  par- 
ish is  thrown  upon  a  few  individuals  ;  and  then,  if  they 
do  not  adopt  such  measures  as  please  everybody,  they 
are  very  unjustly  blamed  for  it.  Every  member  of  a 
society  should  think  himself  of  some  consequence,  and 
remember  that  he  fills  a  place,  which,  if  he  is  not  pres- 
ent, is  vacant.  In  every  society,  there  should  be 
union  ;  this  gives  strength,  and  enables  the  body  to 
carry  all  its  measures  into  effect.  A  society  may  well 
be  represented  by  a  wheel.  The  hub,  spokes,  and  fel- 
loes are  not  a  wheel.  All  these  different  parts  must  be 
fixed  in  their  proper  places,  and  then  there  is  a  wheel  ; 
but  it  is  even  then  weak,  unless  a  strong  tire  is  drawn 
around  it,  to  keep  every  part  firmly  bound  together. 
So  twenty  or  thirty  individuals  are  not  a  society.  They 
must  be  placed  in  their  stations,  and  this  gives  them  the 
form  of  a  society.  But  without  union,  they  will  have 
no  strength  ;  they  can  accomplish  no  important  object. 
A  strong  band  of  love  must  unite  them,  and  press  them 
compactly  together.  Here,  then,  we  see  the  impor- 
tance, that  every  member  should  fill  his  place,  and  dis- 
charge his  duty.  If  we  strike  but  one  spoke  from  a 
wheel,  it  mars  its  beauty,  and  diminishes  its  strength  ;  it 
weakens  the  whole.  If  one  member  in  a  society  be  neg- 
ligent or  remiss,  he  is  not  only  missed  in  person,  but  the 
burden  he  would  bear  is  thrown  on  others,  who,  being 
unable  to  discharge  the  double  duty,  sink  beneath  its 
weight.  How  important,  then,  that  every  one  should 
be  ready  to  discharge  the  obligations  that  rest  upon 
him. 

Again,  look  at  the  effect  of  this  remissness  in  another 
point  of  view.  Its  influence  on  the  minister  of  the 
parish  is  pernicious.  No  clergyman  has  stoicism  enough 
in  him  to  make  him  insensible  to  the  remissness  of  his 


FORMATION  OF  UNIVERSALI 

parishioners.  It  lays  like  an  incubus  upon  him,  through- 
out all  his  labors.  If  he  is  writing  a  sermon,  he  knows 
not  that  many  will  come  to  hear  it  ;  and  think  you,  that 
this  will  enable  him  to  throw  more  fire  and  fervor  into 
his  composition  ?  When  he  goes  to  conduct  the  ser- 
vices of  public  worship,  he  sees  about  half  as  many 
people  as  there  are  pews,  scattered  over  the  house, 
some  below,  and  some  in  the  gallery  ;  no  singers,  so 
that  the  joyful  part  they  perform  must  be  omitted.  He 
begins  with  a  prayer,  but  there  is  no  feeling  ;  he  knows 
not  what  to  say  ;  he  labors  through  it,  and  it  seems  to 
every  one,  a  long,  dull,  and  unsuitable  one.  He  an- 
nounces his  text,  and  endeavours  to  preach,  but  it  is  life- 
less reading  after  all.  His  congregation  have  fixed 
themselves  in  a  situation  to  suffer  the  least  torture  ;  if 
in  summer,  they  sleep  and  nod  ;  if  in  winter,  they 
bury  themselves  in  their  cloaks,  and  go  into  a  torpid 
state.  How  can  any  man  preach  to  such  a  congrega- 
tion ?  It  would  be  easier  to  preach  to  the  walls,  or  as 
many  statues  ;  because,  then,  the  preacher  would  not 
feel  himself  insulted,  and  he  would  be  able  at  once  to 
account  for  the  indifference  of  his  auditors.  No  cler- 
gyman of  common  feeling,  could  remain  with  such  a 
congregation.  He  would  go  where,  if  he  had  any  tal- 
ent, it  would  be  appreciated  ;  and  where  people  would 
respect  heaven,  in  its  message  of  love,  by  feeling  and 
manifesting  a  due  interest  in  the  gospel  of  Christ.  There 
is  yet  another  consideration,  which  weighs  upon  the  mind 
of  the  clergyman.  His  character,  as*a  parish  minister, 
is  somewhat  connected  with  his  success  ;  and,  with 
such  a  society  as  we  have  described,  he  feels  that  he 
suffers  in  his  reputation,  which,  to  literary  men  of  com- 
mon ambition,  is  a  sting  they  cannot  long  bear. 

The  present  age  is,  to  Universalists,  a  highly  inter- 
esting one.  New  societies  and  new  meeting-houses 
rise  in  the  prospect  in  quicker  succession  than  they 
ever  did  before  ;  and  it  cannot  be  denied,  that  there  is 
a  great  and  constant  call  for  ministers  of  integrity  and 
talent.  A  society,  which  has  such  a  clergyman,  has  a 


308  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALTSM. 

prize,  that  it  should  esteem  a  great  misfortune  to  lose. 
For,  aside  from  the  danger  of  division,  to  which  a  so- 
ciety is  always  exposed  on  a  change  of  pastor,  it  may 
not  be  easy  to  make  his  place  good.  How,  then,  shall 
societies,  which  have  good  ministers,  keep  them  ? 
We  shall  say  nothing  here  in  regard  to  a  prompt  dis- 
charge of  pecuniary  obligations,  because  everybody 
knows  the  importance  of  this  ;  we  will  speak  of  that 
which  is  not  so  generally  thought  of.  We  say,  then, 
in  the  language  of  Paul,  that  the  best  way  to  encourage 
your  minister,  and  render  his  residence  among  you 
pleasant,  is  to  be  u  steadfast,  unrnovable,  always  abound- 
ing in  the  work  of  the  Lord."  Be  sober,  be  vigilant  ; 
let  benevolence  shine  in  all  your  actions  ;  love  the 
courts  of  the  Lord  ;  prefer  to  be  a  door-keeper  there, 
rather  than  dwell  in  the  tents  of  wickedness  ;  attend  to 
the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel;  "  then  shall  your  light 
break  forth  as  the  morning,  and  your  health  shall  spring 
forth  speedily." 

IX.  This  brings  us  to  consider,  that  earnestness, 
heartfelt  zeal,  and  perseverance,  are  the  surest  pledges 
of  the  success  of  a  society,  There  is  no  society,  that 
can  live  where  these  virtues  are  absent  ;  there  is  none 
but  what  will  live  and  flourish,  where  these  virtues  ex- 
ist. They  overcome  all  obstacles  ;  we  may  say,  as 
was  said  of  faith,  If  ye  have  these  virtues  like  a  grain 
of  mustard  seed,  ye  shall  remove  mountains. 

We  will  give  you  the  history  of  a  prosperous  society. 

It  is  situated  in  the  town  of .  Eleven  years  ago, 

there  was  not  known  to  be  a  Universalist  in  the  town. 
<c  The  people  walked  in  darkness,  and  dwelt  in  the  land 
of  the  shadow  of  death."  A  gentleman,  of  middling 
property,  about  thirty-six  years  of  age,  a  Universalist 
in  deed  and  in  truth,  whose  wife  believed,  enjoyed,  and 
exemplified  the  same  doctrine  with  himself,  moved  into 
the  place.  Business  imperiously  demanded  his  removal ; 
but  it  was  a  sore  affliction  to  him  to  leave  his  Christian 
friends,  the  "  little  flock  "  with  whom  he  had  so  often 
worshipped  God,  to  go  among  strangers,  in  all  of  whom 


FORMATION  OF  UNIVERSALIST  SOCIETIES.          309 

there  was  not  a  soul  that  would  kindle  like  his  own,  at 
the  mention  of  the  Redeemer's  unchangeable  love. 
He  had  four  consolations,  however,  even  in  this  spiritual 
wilderness  ;  1st,  His  Bible,  the  book  of  books,  which 
he  read  daily  ;  2d,  His  Universalist  newspaper,  which, 
next  to  his  Bible,  nourished  and  sustained  his  soul  ; 
3d,  His  wife's  conversations  and  prayers,  for  they  al- 
ternately officiated  at  the  altar  of  the  evening  sacrifice  ; 
and,  4th,  The  hope,  which  he  secretly  and  confidently 
indulged,  that  the  light  of  the  Gospel  would  soon  break 
into  this  dark  region. 

It  was  not  long,  before  his  neighbours  began  to  bor- 
row u  that  paper,"  as  they  termed  it ;  and  as  he  was 
always  willing  to  lend,  they  were  never  denied  ;  be- 
cause he  took  the  precaution,  when  he  discovered  this 
disposition  on  their  part,  to  subscribe  for  an  additional 
copy,  that  he  might  not  be  destitute  himself.  They 
began  to  read  their  Bibles  with  a  better  relish,  not  so 
much  to  perform  a  duty,  as  because  they  were  inter- 
ested, and  grew  more  and  more  so,  as  they  saw  the  true 
sense  of  the  inspired  writings.  It  was  not  six  months 
(although  it  may  seem  improbable)  before  twelve  cop- 
ies of  "  that  paper  "  were  subscribed  for  by  inhabitants 
of  that  town.  They  read  of  the  spread  of  this  doctrine 
in  other  places  ;  of  the  formation  of  societies  ;  of  the 
erection  and  dedication  of  meeting-houses  ;  and  they 
learned,  also,  to  their  no  small  surprise,  that  this  doc- 
trine, which  has  been  stigmatized  for  eighteen  centuries 
as  a  "  new  doctrine,"  had  had  witnesses  on  the  earth, 
with  very  slight  intervals,  ever  since  God  ordained,  that 
the  head  of  the  serpent  should  be  bruised.  At  length, 
the  friend,  who  had  been  the  means  of  introducing  this 
doctrine  to  their  notice,  proposed,  that  a  preacher 
should  be  invited  to  officiate  on  a  Sabbath.  It  was  a 
novel  experiment  ;  they  doubted  ;  but,  at  length,  they 
resolved  upon  it  ;  an  aged  Father  in  the  faith  went,  at 
their  request,  and  broke  to  them  the  "  bread  of  life." 
No  services  could  have  been  more  appropriate.  The 
meeting  was  held  in  a  private  house  ;  and  there  were 


310  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

about  seventy-five  persons,  who  filled  two  large  Fooms. 
Our  friend  was  too  full  for  utterance.  He  could  hardly 
believe  the  testimony  of  his  own  senses.  It  seemed  a 
vision  to  him,  rather  than  a  reality. 

The  few,  whose  attention  had  been  aroused,  now 
held  meetings,  occasionally,  at  each  other's  houses  ;  not 
so  much  for  formal  worship,  as  for  Christian  conversa- 
tion, inquiry,  and  free  interchange  of  opinion  ;  but  they 
never  separated  without  prayer.  "  And  why  may  we 
not  have  a  society  here  ?  "  said  S.  (for  that  is  the  ini- 
tial of  our  friend's  name),  at  one  of  these  meetings. 
No  one  objected.  "  We  may  have  preaching,"  said  he, 
"  once  in  two  months,  at  least,  and  next  year  perhaps  we 
can  have  a  greater  supply  ;  and  we  may  meet  ourselves, 
for  public  worship,  when  we  have  no  preacher.  The 
world  will  never  respect  our  cause,  unless  we  show 
them,  that  we  respect  it  ourselves."  It  was  resolved 
to  form  a  society,  which  numbered,  at  the  beginning, 
fifteen  males,  of  whom  two  were  quite  young  men,  who 
had  always  been  remarkable  for  their  sobriety,  amiable- 
ness,  and  intelligence.  They  formed  their  society,  not 
from  opposition  to  others,  but  because  they  loved  the 
Gospel  ;  and  they  wished  none  to  join  them,  except  such 
as  loved  the  truth  with  the  whole  heart,  and  were  will- 
ing to  maintain  it,  and  adorn  it  with  patience  and  purity. 
We  do  not  mention  the  opposition  they  encountered, 
because  it  never  gave  them  any  anxiety.  It  was  bitter  ; 
but  God  overruled  it  for  good.  A  worldling,  worth 
eight  thousand  dollars,  once  made  application  to  join 
them.  He  was  obliged  to  pay  fifteen  dollars  annually 
to  the  old  parish,  and  he  said  he  was  sick  of  it.  u  How 
much  shall  I  pay  you  a  year,"  said  he,  "  to  give  me  a 
certificate  of  membership  in  your  society  ?  "  They 
told  him,  thirty  dollars  ;  "  and  he  went  away  sorrow- 
ing." The  fact  was,  they  knew  such  a  member  would 
be  an  injury  to  them,  —  a  bad  example  for  others  to 
imitate,  who  might  afterwards  join. 

The  second  year,  their  numbers  had  somewhat  in- 
creased, and  they  had  meetings  one  half  of  the  time. 


FORMATION  OF  ^UNIVERSALIST  SOCIETIES.         3 1 1 

They  invited  a  young  man  (for  they  thought  it  a  duty  to 
encourage  young  preachers)  to  settle  with  them,  to  live 
in  the  town  ;  and  they  flattered  themselves,  that  he 
would  find  employment  for  the  remainder  of  the  Sab- 
baths in  towns  not  far  distant  ;  and  so  the  event  proved. 
They  prospered  so  greatly,  that  they  thought  the 
proverb  almost  literally  true,  that  "men  can  do  what- 
ever amount  of  good  they  try  to  do." 

The  last  time  we  visited  this  society,  they  presented 
the  same  interesting  spectacle.  Each  one  bore  his  part 
with  uninterrupted  cheerfulness.  There  certainly  was 
not  an  inactive  member  among  them.  They  held  the 
doctrine,  they  said,  that  a  society  should  never  retro- 
grade. a  We  must  always  keep  moving,  and  always  go 
ahead."  A  society  cannot  stand  still  ;  it  will  go  one 
way  or  the  other,  up  or  down,  to  glory  or  to  ruin. 
"  We  shall  fear  the  day,"  said  one  of  them,  "  when 
we  shall  think  we  have  done  enough."  "  Well,  now," 
said  I,  "  Br.  S.,  what  is  the  highest  point  of  your  am- 
bition in  regard  to  your  society  ?  "  He  replied  imme- 
diately, "  I  do  not  know  ;  I  cannot  see  that  point. 
One  thing  I  am  sure  of,  we  shall  never  rest  until  we 
have  a  meeting-house,  and  preaching  every  Sabbath. 
No  society  (he  continued)  should  think  its  work  even  half 
done,  until  it  has  gained  that  end."  "  But,"  said  I, 
"  Br.  S.,  I  know  some  old  societies,  that  have  preach- 
ing but  half  the  time  ; "  and  I  named  two  or  three  of 
them  to  him.  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  know  it  ;  I  have 
long  wondered  at  it.  In  one  of  those  societies  you 
have  now  named,  there  are  three  men,  whose  wealth  is 
greater  than  the  wealth  of  all  our  members  ;  and  yet 
those  three  men  do  not  pay  a  sufficient  tax  (or  did  not 
when  I  lived  in  their  neighbourhood)  to  defray  the  ex- 
pense of  three  Sundays'  preaching.  They  care  very 
little  about  Universalism  (said  he)  ;  they  go  to  meeting 
because  their  fathers  did,  and  because  it  is  fashionable 
to  do  so  ;  and  they  go  to  the  Universalist  meeting,  be- 
cause that  society  raises  the  least  money  of  any  society 
in  town.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  that  society  is  led 


312  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

and  governed  by  such  men."  Growing  quite  enthusi- 
astic, he  cried,  at  the  same  time  rising  from  his  chair, 
"It  will  not  do,  Br.  W.,  every  society  ought  to  go 
ahead  ;  they  ought  to  do  more  for  the  present  year  than 
they  ever  did  before.  If  they  do  not  adopt  this  princi- 
ple, they  will  have  a  name  only  to  live,  —  they  will  be 
dead.  I  say  (said  he)  we  ought  to  press  forward,  and 
never  be  weary  in  well  doing."  "  Amen,"  I  was  con- 
strained to  say,  UI  do  love  your  zeal." 

X.  Rich  men  are  not  always  the  best  members  of 
a  religious  society.  A  wise  observer  of  these  matters 
has  said  ;  u  In  many  of  our  country  societies,  and 
among  the  professed  friends  to  our  doctrine  where  no 
society  exists,  are  to  be  found  certain  narrow-minded 
brethren,  who  can' talk  much  about  the  c  glorious  gos- 
pel,' and  tell  of  the  first  time  they  heard  any  thing 
about  it,  many  years  ago,  and  how  long  they  have  stood 
firm  in  the  faith  against  all  the  combined  powers  of  the 
enemy  ;  and  how  refreshing  it  is  to  them  to  hear  the 
glad  tidings  proclaimed  ;  but  who  never  seem  to  think, 
that  five  dollars  will  go  further  than  ninepence  in  the 
payment  of  a  poor,  itinerant  preacher,  when  they  are 
amply  able  to  pay  the  former  sum  a  dozen  times  in 
a  year  !  I  might  enumerate  examples  of  this  kind,  but 
it  would  be  of  no  avail  to  make  up  such  a  black  list. 
I  leave  such,  not  to  the  bufferings  of  the  adversary,  — 
for,  perhaps,  he  would  not  find  enough  in  them  to  make 
an  object  of  €ontention, — but  to  the  stings  of  their 
own  strange  consciences  every  time  they  read  a  rebuke 
of  this  kind,  or  any  thing  like  it.  They  will  know  who 
is  meant. 

"  I  have  known  a  society  completely  paralyzed  by 
three  or  four  such  flint-souled  members.  They  had 
enough  of  c  the  wherewith  '  in  their  possession,  but  they 
could  not  spare  it  to  pay  for  preaching  ;  while  those  in 
more  limited  circumstances  were  doing  their  utmost  for 
the  support  of  the  gospel.  To  use  the  comparison  of  a 
quaint  preacher,  it  would  take  as  many  of  such  men  to 
make  a  society,  c  as  it  would  snow-balls  to  heat  an 


FORMATION  OF  UNIVERSALIST  SOCIETIES.         313 

Ministers  are  men ;  they  have  wants  like  others,  and 
must  be  provided  for.  And  they  must  have  time  for 
study,  or  they  cannot  make  acceptable  preachers  at  the 
present  day.  Working  on  the  farm  all  the  week,  or  in 
the  workshop,  and  then  preaching  on  Sundays,  may  an- 
swer for  a  time,  under  certain  circumstances  ;  but  such 
preaching  will  not  keep  pace  with  the  times.  And  a 
preacher  must  do  this,  if  he  would  be  ua  good  minister 
of  the  Lord  Jesus."  Religious  truth  should  not  be 
behind  every  thing  else,  as  she  has  been  for  ages  past. 
Preachers  must  study  ;  therefore  they  need  support. 

Members  of  societies  should  contribute  liberally. 
Every  one  ought  to  make  a  just  estimate  of  his  proper- 
ty,, and  ask  himself  how  much  he  is  able  to  give  yearly 
for  preaching.  And  when  he  subscribes,  he  should  ask 
himself  also,  how  the  amount  set  off*  against  his  name 
on  paper,  will  affect  the  mjnds  of  others.  If  he  is  illib- 
eral in  this  respect,  poorer  members  may  be,  —  and 
thus  the  society  has  not  done  justice  to  its  own  powers. 

Punctual  payments  are  necessary  in  every  society. 
Whoever  subscribes  or  agrees  to  pay  his  portion,  should 
calculate  to  be  ready  when  called  on,  to  make  payment, 
for  the  salary  is  the  preacher's  living.  He  has  earned 
it,  and  it  belongs  to  him  ;  and  if,  instead  of  receiving 
it,  he  is  put  off  with  mere  promises,  it  serves  to  dis- 
courage him.  Let  a  society  evince  their  attachment 
to  a  preacher,  not  by  mere  words  and  professions,  but 
by  giving  him  substantial  proof,  that  they  are  determin- 
ed to  make  his  situation  with  them  a  happy  one.  Prom- 
ises are  poor  articles  for  food  or  clothing.  What  tales 
of  sadness  some  of  our  poor  itinerants  could  tell,  who 
have  traversed  hill  and  dale  with  the  gospel  message 
on  their  tongues,  for  which  they  have  had  the  privilege 
of  obtaining  about  half  enough  to  meet  their  expenses. 
I  have  heard  some  of  their  narratives  ;  and  I  always 
feel,  when  I  listen  to  them,  as  though  they  had  not  only 
entered  the  kingdom  t£  with  much  tribulation,"  but  had 
found  a  good  share  of  it  within.  Faith,  I  suppose,  has 
kept  them  alive. 

27 


314  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

"  We  have  a  large  society  in  our  town,"  said  a 
friend  the  other  day.  "It  is  quite  large,  and  wealthy 
too." 

This  man  supposed  a  rich  society  was  certainly  a 
good  one. 

"Well,"  said  we,  "how  much  do  you  pay  your 
minister  ?  " 

"  Five  hundred  per  annum,"  was  his  reply. 

"  Does  that  afford  him  a  comfortable  maintenance  ?  " 

"No,"  said  he,  "  it  is  not  enough;  but  we  cannot 
raise  any  more  for  him.  We  have  attempted  it,  and 
cannot  do  it.  He  has  a  hard  time  to  live,  without  get- 
ting into  debt.  We  find  it  difficult  to  pay  even  five 
hundred  dollars.  We  are  a  little  in  arrears  every  year. 
Our  parish  debt  increases,  although  we  pay  so  little  to 
the  minister." 

"  How  does  this  happen,  friend,  if  your  society  is 
so  rich  ?  Have  you  no  members  who  are  willing  to  pay 
their  proportion  of  the  expenses  ?" 

"  O  yes,"  said  he,  "  we  have  many  who  are  willing 
to  do  their  part,  and  more  than  their  part ;  but  they 
cannot  do  every  thing.  Those  who  are  the  most  will- 
ing, and  those  who  pay  the  most  in  proportion  to  what 
they  are  worth,  are  our  men  of  small  property.  To 
tell  you  the  truth,  (he  added,)  our  rich  men  are  the 
most  unwilling  to  pay.  They  always  object  to  raising 
money.  They  are  opposed  to  any  improvements,  which 
make  any  cost." 

"  Do  not,  then,  boast  of  having  a  rich  society,"  I 
replied.  "  I  am  well  aware  that  rich  members  are  not 
always  the  best.  There  are  exceptions  ;  there  are 
some  rich  men  who  perform  their  parts  well  ;  but  there 
are  too  many  cases  of  a  contrary  kind.  Rich  men  love 
their  money.  And  it  is  a  solemn  fact,  which  many  so- 
cieties have  proved  by  their  sad  experience,  that  there 
are  no  members  of  religious  societies  who  exercise  so 
unfavorable  an  influence,  as  rich  men  who  are  unwilling 
to  pay  their  proportion  of  the  society's  expenses. 
Think  of  it  one  moment.  A  man  worth  twenty  thou- 


FORMATION  OF  UNIVERSALIST  SOCIETIES.         315 

sand  dollars,  agrees  to  give  five  dollars,  as  his  part  of 
some  expense.  Many  others  will  estimate  what  they 
ought  to  give,  by  comparing  their  property  with  his. 
He  is  worth  twenty  thousand,  I  am  worth  one  tenth  of 
that,  and  therefore  I  will  give  fifty  cents.  And  yet  these 
persons  would  willingly  have  given  five  dollars  a  piece, 
if  he  had  given  as  much  in  proportion.  Rich  men, 
who  are  unwilling  to  do  their  part,  pour  cold  water  on 
the  zeal  of  others.  They  are  not,  perhaps,  aware  of 
it  ;  but  such  is  actually  the  case.  And  although  there 
are  many  men  of  moderate  means,  who  will  do  their 
duty,  even  if  the  rich  man  is  backward,  yet  there  are 
too  many  who  conclude  what  they  ought  to  give,  by  fol- 
lowing his  example. 

"  I  see,"  said  my  friend,  "that  I  have  been  wrong 
in  regarding  rich  men  as  the  best  members  of  a  socie- 
ty. Those  are  the  best,  who  are  the  most  earnestly  and 
zealously  engaged  in  the  cause  of  truth,  whether  they 
be  rich,  or  poor." 

XL  Our  laymen  should  see  the  necessity  of  exer- 
cising their  spiritual  gifts  more  frequently  than  they  do. 
Meetings  for  religious  improvement  should  be  held,  even 
in  those  places  where  no  clergymen  can  be  obtained. 
Such  meetings  should  be  held  by  every  society  in  this 
land  of  Schools,  Bibles,  and  moral  facilities.  If  a  so- 
ciety has  no  interest  of  this  kind,  unless  they  can  have 
a  minister,  they  need  awakening  from  death  to  life. 
The  Christian  Sabbath  is  too  good  an  institution  to  be 
neglected  and  misspent  by  those  who  might  otherwise 
be  improving  themselves  in  Christian  knowledge  and 
grace. 

If  there  are  but  half  a  dozen  or  a  dozen  members  of 
a  society,  who  are  willing  to  make  the  first  attempt  at 
holding  meetings  without  a  minister,  let  them  start  on- 
ward. Others  will  follow.  If  any  convenient  place 
can  be  found  in  a  public  or  private  house,  let  it  be  ob- 
tained, and  let  some  sort  of  religious  services  be  per- 
formed. If  no  one  has  confidence  to  utter  a  prayer,  let 
the  Lord's  prayer  be  repeated,  and  singing  performed, 


316  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

and  sermons  read  ;  and  after  these  services,  conver- 
sation on  religious  topics.  These  things  will  be  benefi- 
cial. We  know  it,  —  for  we  have  repeatedly  witnessed 
their  effects. 

Societies  will  never  know  what  they  can  do,  until 
they  make  the  trial  of  their  powers  and  means.  If  one 
stands  back  in  doubt  and  diffidence,  another  may,  and 
so  nothing  will  be  done.  But  let  one,  or  two,  or  three 
only  be  resolved  to  commence,  and  the  way  will  be 
made  clear.  The  Lord's  blessing  will  be  with  a  small 
number  who  meet  in  his  name. 

Good  readers  can  certainly  be  found  in  every  socie- 
ty. If  older  ones  decline  serving,  let  some  father  ap- 
point a  son,  or  some  other  young  friend  to  read  a  ser- 
mon ;  let  those,  who  have  honest  hearts  and  good  inten- 
tions, speak.  Will  it  be  replied,  that  there  is  a  difficul- 
ty here,  — that  very  many  good,  honest  believers  in  the 
truth,  dare  not  attempt  to  speak  in  public  on  religious 
topics  ?  We  have  heard  this  remark  repeatedly,  and 
have  passed  over  it  with  a  feeling  of  excuse  for  such  ; 
but  we  now  repent  of  this  error.  In  eight  cases  out  of 
ten,  we  can  see  no  just  grounds  for  excuse.  Men  can 
talk  about  religion  as  well  as  about  any  other  subject,  if 
they  feel  it,  and  really  believe  it  to  be  of  paramount  im- 
portance. This  diffidence,  then,  is  censurable,  because 
unreasonable.  Let  a  man  be  bruised  or  pained,  and  he 
can  make  it  known, — let  him  receive  joyful  intelli- 
gence, and  he  can  vocally  exult  and  be  glad.  Why 
must  he  be  dumb,  then,  on  the  best  of  all  topics,  reli- 
gious truth  ?  Is  there  any  reason  in  this  ? 

One  consideration  here  may  be  in  place.  Weak  and 
extravagant  speakers  have  been  so  often  heard  in  certain 
other  denominations,  that  some  conscientious  believers 
in  Universalism  are  at  first  startled  at  the  idea  of  giving 
utterance  in  public  to  their  religious  thoughts.  Every 
one  should  consult  his  own  feelings  on  this  subject.  If 
he  can  talk  so  as  to  be  clearly  understood  on  other  sub- 
jects, it  will  do  no  harm  for  him  to  say  something  to  his 
brethren  on  the  subject  of  religion.  A  good,  social 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  317 

meeting  of  Christian  friends  will  do  much  for  the  spir- 
itual advancement  of  all  who  enjoy  it.  There  is  a  la- 
mentable indifference  on  this  subject.  Too  much  is 
thought  of  mere  minister  meetings ;  as  if  no  others 
could  be  tolerated.  This  is  wrong.  We  have  known 
societies  go  onward  month  after  month,  and  year  after 
year,  holding  their  meetings  without  a  stated  pastor, 
exhorting  one  another,  and  praising  God  in  prayers, 
u  psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs,"  with  one 
heart,  and  in  one  spirit  of  Christian  love.  They  pros- 
pered,—  they  will  continue  to  prosper,  —  for  the  Lord 
will  not  forsake  such  a  society  as  this.  It  is  a  glory  in 
Zion  ;  its  "  walls  are  salvation,  and  its  gates  praise  ;  " 
and  those  who  behold  it  will  be  led  to  glorify  the  name 
of  the  Father  in  heaven. 

Who  can  tell  how  many  talented,  worthy  preachers 
of  God's  word,  may  be  raised  up  in  our  denomination, 
from  those  who  will  date  their  first  attempts  at  speaking  in 
defence  of  the  truth,  back  to  the  social,  religious  meet- 
ing held  by  a  society  destitute  of  a  minister  ?  Think 
of  this,  ye  who  are  friends  to  the  doctrine  of  the  recon- 
ciliation, and  who  desire,  that  all  the  good  means  for  its 
advancement  among  men,  may  be  put  in  requisition. 
Remember,  that  great  effects  often  spring  from  remote 
and  little  causes.  Despise  not  the  "  day  of  small 
things."  If  any  reasonable  step  can  be  taken  to  give 
success  to  the  cause  of  the  Gospel.,  it  is  your  duty  to 
ask  if  you  shall  not  encourage  it. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   LORD'S   SUPPER. 

I.  THERE  is  nothing  more  simple  or  beautiful  than 
the  Lord's  Supper,  in  its  original  form  and  design.  It 
was  instituted  by  our  Lord  himself.  It  has  the  high 
sanction,  therefore,  not  merely  of  his  observance  of 

27* 


318  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  rite,  but  of  his  having  instituted  it  also,  and  admin- 
istered it  primarily  to  his  disciples.  It  was  a  venerated 
custom  of  the  Jews,  to  perpetuate  the  remembrance 
of  any  important  event  by  a  solemn  festival,  or  feast, 
which,  in  its  regular  occurrence,  would  call  the  event 
to  mind,  excite  gratitude  for  the  blessing,  and  bear  down 
the  remembrance  of  it  to  future  generations.  This  was 
the  object  of  all  the  Jewish  feasts.  The  passover,  for 
instance,  was  designed  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of 
God's  goodness  in  delivering  the  Jews  from  Egyptian 
bondage,  and  in  passing  over  and  sparing  their  first-born, 
when  the  first-born  of  the  Egyptians  were  slain.  The 
feast  of  pentecost  was  instituted  in  remembrance  of 
the  giving  of  the  law  to  Moses,  fifty  days  after  the  de- 
parture from  Egypt,  from  which  circumstance,  it  bears 
the  name  pentecost.  The  feast  of  tabernacles  was  de- 
signed to  perpetuate  the  history  of  the  Jews'  dwelling 
in  tents  or  tabernacles,  on  their  journey  from  Egypt  to 
-Canaan  ;  and,  during  the  celebration,  they  carried  in 
their  hands  branches  of  palm,  and  other  trees,  with 
which  they  erected  booths.  See  Neh.  viii.  15.  There 
were  other  solemn  observances  among  the  Jews,  such 
as  the  feast  of  trumpets,  so  called  from  the  blowing  of 
trumpets  upon  the  occasion  ;  the  feast  of  expiation  ; 
the  feast  of  purim  or  lots,  and  the  feast  of  dedication  ; 
each  of  which  had  its  distinct  object  in  the  commemo- 
ration of  some  important  event. 

It  should  be  remembered,  that  the  early  Christians 
were  Jews,  well  acquainted  with  the  religious  festivals 
of  the  nation,  and  in  the  habit  of  observing  them  con- 
tinually. When,  therefore,  the  Saviour  instituted  the 
festival  of  the  Supper,  he  conformed  to  an  immemorial 
custom  of  the  nation. 

The  object  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  very  briefly 
stated  by  our  Saviour  himself,  at  the  time  of  its  insti- 
tution. "  This  do,"  said  he,  "  in  remembrance  of 
rne."  Luke  xxii.  19.  Such  we  understand  to  be  the 
great  and  leading  object  of  the  ordinance,  to  perpetuate 
a  remembrance  of  the  life,  sufferings,  death,  resnrrec- 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  319 

tion,  and  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ.  Paul  declares,  that 
in  the  observance  of  the  ordinance,  they  did  "  show- 
forth  the  Lord's  death."  1  Cor.  xi.  26.  It  is  not  so 
much  the  nature  of  the  ordinance  itself,  which  is 
calculated  to  -  answer  this  end,  as  the  fact,  which 
is  invariably  and  inseparably  connected  with  the  ob- 
servance, that  it  was  designed  originally  for  this  one 
object,  and  for  none  other,  viz.  to  bear  up  the  remem- 
brance of  Christ  and  his  religion.  Every  time  the 
Christian  goes  to  the  table,  he  knows  he  goes  there  sol- 
emnly to  recognise  the  truth  of  the  religion  he  pro- 
fesses ;  to  impress  a  sense  of  its  reality  upon  his  mind, 
and  to  assist  in  bearing  down  to  future  generations  this 
standing  proof,  —  we  mean  the  ordinance  itself,  —  of  the 
truth  of  that  religion.  We  see  sufficient  reasons  for  the 
continued  observance  of  the  ordinance  in  those  benefits, 
which  flow  from  it,  even  if  there  be  no  positive  com- 
mand to  that  effect  ;  and  we  confess,  that  we  feel  a 
strong  desire,  that  the  denomination  of  Universalists 
shall  not  be  hasty  to  neglect  a  service  in  every  way  so 
important. 

II.  This  institution,  that  was  so  beautiful  in  its 
primitive  simplicity,  became  corrupted  soon  after  the 
death  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  It  will  not  be  unprofitable 
to  take  a  rapid  review  of  the  corruptions,  as  the  church 
tolerated  them. 

The  first  alteration,  or  rather  addition,  made  to  the 
original  notion  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was,  that  of  its 
being  a  sacrament,  or  an  oath  to  be  true  to  a  leader. 
The  word  sacrament  signifies  an.  oath.  It  is  not  found 
in  the  Scriptures.  This  was  only  a  small  deviation  ; 
but  it  serves  to  mark  the  commencement  of  the  cor- 
ruptions. The  greatest  injury  of  it  might  consist  in 
preventing  Christians,  who  were  opposed  to  oaths,  from 
attending  to  the  Supper. 

Another  corruption  soon  added,  and  one  of  much 
more  injury,  was  the  considering  of  it  a  u  mystery." 
Christians  began  very  early  to  call  it  one  of  the  "  mys- 
teries "  of  our  holy  religion.  The  term  "mystery" 


320  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

signifies  something  secret.  In  the  worship  of  the  hea- 
then there  were  many  secrets,  to  which  people,  sup- 
posed to  be  pure  and  holy,  were  initiated.  And  it 
seems  reasonable,  that  when  the  heathen  were  con- 
verted to  Christianity,  they  carried  with  them  their  love 
of  mystery  and  pomp  ;  they  wished  to  have  something 
of  this  nature  in  the  Christian  religion.  Christians 
soon  began  to  exclude  all  those  who  did  not  partake  of 
the  ordinance,  from  being  present  at  the  celebration  of 
it.  Whether  they  authoritatively  excluded  the  non- 
participants  from  the  house,  or  whether  such  went  out 
voluntarily,  we  cannot  now  say  ;  but  one  thing  is  certain, 
it  was  thought  wicked  to  permit  them  to  see  the  manner 
in  which  the  communion  was  administered.  The 
council  of  Alexandria,  in  allusion  to  this,  said  ;  "  that 
which  is  holy,  should  not  be  cast  to  the  dogs,  nor 
pearls  before  swine."  Soon  Christians  began  to  call 
the  institution,  a  "tremendous  mystery,"  a  "dreadful 
solemnity,"  and  u  terrible  to  angels." 

We  shall  pass  over  many  corruptions  less  worthy  of 
notice,  that  we  may  reduce  the  subject  to  proper  limits. 
The  Lord's  Supper  soon  began  to  be  considered  as 
necessary  to  salvation,  and  to  the  obtaining  of  the  favor 
of  God.  And  we  also  find,  quite  early,  some  advances 
toward  the  absurd  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  Chris- 
tians began  to  consider  the  bread  and  wine  to  be 
changed,  after  prayers  were  offered.  Something  di- 
vine had  then  entered  into  them.  And  we  may  say  the 
same  of  the  cloth,  which  covered  the  table,  and  the 
table  itself,  and  the  utensils.  They  were  thought  to  be 
holy,  and  in  time  people  began  to  worship  them.  They 
were  supposed  to  possess  sense  and  sanctity.  Some 
inquired,  whether  the  bread  might  not  in  some  sense, 
be  the  real  body,  and  the  wine,  the  real  blood  of  Christ. 
It  was  thought  wrong  to  commit  the  blood  of  Christ  to 
so  frail  a  thing  as  glass.  Jerome  reproaches  a  bishop 
with  this,  as  he  was  a  rich  man,  and  able  to  get  better. 
Churches  sent  portions  of  bread  to  neighbouring 
churches,  as  a  token  of  communion.  But,  what  was 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  321 

much  worse  than  this,  the  bread  was  thought  to  be  use- 
ful in  a  medicinal  point  of  view.  It  was  believed  to  be 
a  means  of  preserving  people  when  absent  from  home, 
in  journeys,  and  upon  voyages.  And  the  priests  used 
to  keep  a  quantity  of  the  consecrated  element  to  dis- 
tribute occasionally,  as  it  might  be  wanted.  It  was 
given  to  the  sick  ;  and  the  Christian  fathers  mention 
many  cases  of  particular  diseases,  to  which  this  rem- 
edy was  applied.  This  was  done  solely  on  account 
of  the  virtue  which  was  communicated  to  the 'bread  by 
the  prayer  of  the  priest.  The  ancient  Christians  some- 
times buried  it  with  the  dead  ;  thinking,  no  doubt,  that  it 
would  be  of  great  use  to  them  during  their  long  journey, 
which  they  were  supposed  to  take.  Thus  did  the 
church  go  on  in  the  work  of  corrupting  this  ordinance. 
People's  notions  were  advancing  rapidly  toward  the 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  They  began  to  use 
spoons  in  eating  the  bread,  that  they  might  not  drop  the 
crumbs.  .  They  thought,  too,  that  they  must  eat  it  with 
the  body  in  a  particular  position.  And,  among  other  su- 
perstitious customs,  we  find  that  they  were  in  the  habit 
of  mixing  some  of  the  wine  with  ink,  to  sign  writings 
of  a  peculiarly  solemn  nature.  u  Thus  pope  Theodore, 
in  the  seventh  century,  signed  the  condemnation  and 
deposition  of  Pyrrhus,  the  Monothelite  ;  it  was  used  at 
the  condemnation  of  Photius,  by  the  fathers  of  the 
Council  of  Constantinople,  in  869  ;  and  Charles  the 
Bald,  and  Bernard,  count  of  Barcelona,  also  signed  a 
treaty  with  the  sacramental  wine,  in  844,"  The  prac- 
tice of  the  Supper  was  enveloped  in  so  much  mystery 
and  formal  solemnity,  that  the  people  were  afraid  to 
.participate  in  it,  and  absented  themselves  from  the  table; 
and,  at  one  time,  the  priests  only  partook  of  the  ele- 
ments, the  people  looking  on,  and  joining  in  the  prayers 
alone. 

But  we  have  now  almost  come  to  the  height  of  su- 
perstition, with  respect  to  this  rite.  Paschasius  Rad- 
bert,  a  monk  of  Corbie,  in  France,  was  the  first,  we 
think,  boldly  to  assert  one  of  the  most  absurd  doctrines 


322  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

ever  believed  ;  and  yet  one,  that  came  afterwards  to  be 
very  generally  received,  —  we  mean  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation.  Transubstantiation  is  the  change  of 
bread  and  wine  into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ. 
The  believers  in  this  doctrine  contended,  that  the  bread 
and  wine  were  changed  by  the  priest's  prayer  into  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ ;  the  very  same  body  which 
was  born  of  Mary,  crucified  upon  the  cross,  and  raised 
from  the  dead.  The  priests  did  not  attempt  to  prove 
this  so  much  from  reason,  as  from  the  testimony  of 
ghosts  and  apparations,  which  they  alleged  they  had 
seen.  One  priest  alleged,  that  he  saw  the  bread 
become  Christ  in  his  full  form,  as  a  babe  ;  that  he 
clasped  him  to  his  bosom,  and  afterwards  beheld  him  in 
the  form  of  bread  again.  When  this  doctrine  was  first 
advanced,  it  met  with  much  opposition.  Nearly  two 
centuries  passed  away,  before  it  could  with  propriety 
be  called  the  doctrine  of  the  majority.  But,  as  soon  as 
the  papal  priests  saw,  that  the  doctrine  was  received  by 
the  multitude,  and  that  it  gave  people  a  reverence  for 
those  who  could  change  bread  and  wine  into  the  actual 
body  and  blood  of  Jesus,  they  began  generally  to  advo- 
cate it ;  and  pope  Innocent  the  Third,  at  the  Council 
of  Lateran,  in  1215,  by  a  decree,  made  it  an  article  of 
faith.  In  this  age  of  the  world,  it  is  hard  to  believe, 
that  people  were  ever  so  infatuated.  Many,  we  have 
no  doubt,  sincerely  believed  the  delusion  ;  and  the 
papal  clergy  were  well  enough  pleased  with  it  ;  for  they 
loved  to  be  exalted  in  the  people's  estimation,  even  if 
it  were  at  the  expense  of  reason  and  truth.  The 
reader  of  ecclesiastical  history  cannot  but  be  astonished 
at  the  daring  impiety  of  some  of  the  clergy  who  be-, 
lieved  this  doctrine.  They,  seemed  intoxicated  with  a 
love  of  the  power  they  thought  they  possessed.  One 
of  them  spoke  in  this  way  ;  "  On  our  altars,  Jesus 
Christ  obeys  all  the  world.  He  obeys  the  priest,  let 
him  be  where  he  will,  at  every  hour,  at  his  simple 
word.  They  carry  him  whither  they  please.  He  goes 
into  the  mouth  of  the  wicked,  as  well  as  the  righteous. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  323 

He  makes  no  resistance,  he  does  not  hesitate  one  mo- 
ment." And  it  is  said,  some  of  the  priests  boasted,  that 
they  had  even  more  power  than  Mary,  the  mother  of 
Jesus  ;  because  they  could  create  their  Creator  when- 
ever they  pleased. 

The  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  gave  rise  to  a 
practice  approaching  very  near  to  idolatry,  known  by 
the  name  of  the  elevation  of  the  host.  This  practice 
consisted  in  carrying  about  the  streets,  upon  an  elevated 
table,  or  stand,  prepared  for  the  purpose,  with  the 
greatest  pomp  and  magnificence,  a  portion  of  the  con- 
secrated bread,  which  was  adored  by  the  multitude. 
The  custom  very  naturally  resulted  from  the  belief, 
that,  by  consecration,  the  bread  was  changed  into  the 
real  body  of  Jesus. 

Although  we  have  now  arrived  at  the  summit  of  su- 
perstition on  this  subject,  we  have  not  noticed  the  full 
extent  of  it.  We  are  at  the  top  of  the  hill  ;  but  we 
came  up  by  degrees,  and  we  must  go  down  by  degrees. 
People  did  not  throw  off  their  superstition  all  at  once. 
It  is  a  moral  sickness,  of  which  it  takes  some  time  to 
cure  the  world.  As  this  corruption  began  very  early, 
and  went  further  than  any  other,  so  it  was  with  great 
difficulty  rectified  ;  and,  indeed,  it  may  not  be  wholly 
done  to  this  day. 

The  subject  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  one  of  great 
interest  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation.  JLuther,  al- 
though a  reformer  in  many  important  points,  did  but 
little  to  correct  the  error  of  the  church  concerning  the 
Eucharist.  Notwithstanding  he  professed  to  reject  the 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  nevertheless,  he  main- 
tained, uthat  the  partakers  of  the  Lord's  Supper  re- 
ceived, along  with  the  bread  and  wine,  the  real  body 
and  blood  of  Christ."  But  Carlstadt  arid  Zuinglius 
took  the  proper  ground,  maintaining,  in  that  early  day, 
that  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  were  not  present  in  the 
Eucharist  ;  but,  that  the  bread  and  wine  were  signs  and 
symbols,  designed  to  excite  in  the  minds  of  Christians 
the  remembrance  of  the  sufferings  and  death  of  the  di- 


324  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

vine  Saviour,  and  of  the  benefits  which  arise  from  it. 
It  should  not  be  supposed,  that  this  great  advance  was 
made  without  high  disapprobation,  even  among  the 
Reformers  themselves.  For  Luther,  and  other  milder 
men,  highly  disapproved  of  it.  Zuinglius,  the  Swiss 
reformer,  was  a  man  of  a  capacious  and  penetrating 
mind.  He  was  far  before  Luther  in  the  march  of  im- 
provement. Had  he  not  been  cut  off  by  premature 
death,  the  age  of  the  Reformation,  bright  as  it  was, 
would  have  shone  with  a  greater  glory. 

The  effect  of  the  corruptions  we  have  named  was 
long  and  widely  felt,  and  was  principally  injurious  in  ex- 
citing a  general  dread  of  participation  in  the  Supper. 
Fear  seized  the  church,  fear  which  increased  with  its 
errors,  and  which  can  decrease  only  with  them.  As 
we  are  not,  at  this  day,  rid  of  all  the  error,  so  we  are 
not  rid  of  all  the  injurious  fear.  Many  there  are,  de- 
sirous of  observing  the  communion  rite,  and  who  are 
fully  qualified  therefor,  who  are  restrained  by  the  lin- 
gering influence  of  some  of  the  errors  of  which  I  have 
spoken. 

III.  The  necessity  of  the  organization  of  churches 
and  of  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  is  deeply 
felt  by  many  Universalists.  It  is  true,  there  is  among 
us  a  difference  of  opinion  on  this  topic,  which,  although 
it  is  lamented,  is  the  cause  of  no  alienation  of  feeling. 
We  think,  however,  that  there  is  an  increasing  attention 
to  the  subject.  Much  has  been  written  upon  it ;  and 
we  can  state  our  own  views  ho  more  faithfully  than  it  is 
done  in  a  late  article  in  the  "  Universalist  Expositor," 
from  the  pen  of  the  editor  of  that  work. 

"  There  is  a  class  of  means  which  we  should  most 
earnestly  recommend  to  a  more  general  adoption  among 
us,  were  it  not,  that  some  of  our  brethren  have  con- 
scientious scruples  with  respect  to  them.  As  the  case 
is,  it  becomes  us  only  to  express  our  opinion.  We  al- 
lude to  the  institution  of  churches,  and  the  regular  ob- 
servance of  the  Lord's  Supper.  We  say,  of  churches  ; 
although  we  understand  it  to  be  a  practice  in  certain  parts 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  325 

of  our  country  to  gather  the  societies  themselves  some- 
what on  the  plan  of  churches  ;  that  is,  to  admit  none 
but  of  apparent  Christian  lives,  and  on  a  direct  profes- 
sion of  Christian  faith,  and  to  maintain  a  system  of  mor- 
al and  religious  discipline  to  which  all  the  members  are 
subject.  So  far,  these  societies  are,  in  their  regulations, 
churches,  only  under  another  name.  But,  where  the 
society  is  gathered  indiscriminately,  as  in  New  England, 
and,  we  believe,  in  most  other  places,  —  where  it  con- 
sists of  all  who  choose  to  belong  to  it,  from  whatever 
motive,  or  to  share  in  the  pecuniary  burdens  or  profits 
of  building,  &c.,  it  seems  to  us  highly  important  that 
there  should  also  be  an  association  based  on  the  special 
ground  of  positive  failh  and  experimental  religion.  The 
more  we  have  seen  this  measure  earnestly  and  perse- 
veringly  tried,  the  more  have  we  been  persuaded,  that 
its  operation  is  of  great  benefit.  Is  it  not  natural,  that 
it  should  be  so  ?  Mankind  associate  for  all  other  pur- 
poses in  which  they  feel  a  mutual  interest,  and  they  de- 
rive mutual  advantage  from  their  connexion.  Like 
coals  brought  together,  they  exert  a  wider  and  more 
powerful  influence  around.  And  why  not,  in  the  culti- 
vation of  religious  principle  and  practice  ?  Most  of  the 
other  sects  never  form  a  society  without  a  church.  Has 
it  not  been  observed,  that  in  general,  (there  are  excep- 
tions,) they  rather  'excel  us  in  strong,  enduring  attach- 
ment to  their  religion  and  to  their  social  institutions  ? 
Now,  it  is  an  ominous  fact,  that  in  a  very  large  propor- 
tion of  our  societies,  probably  in  more  than  two  thirds 
of  our  eight  or  nine  hundred,  there  are  no  churches,  no 
associations  of  the  kind  whatsoever  !  We  have  a  deep 
and  increasing  presentiment,  that  there  must  be  a  thor- 
ough change  of  this  state  of  things,  and  that  churches, 
or  something  tantamount,  (why  shun  the  name  ?)  must 
be  introduced  in  all  cases  where  we  form  a  society,  or 
that  its  prosperity  will  not  be  permanent.  At  any  rate, 
we  cannot  conceive  of  general  neglect,  without  the  most 
disastrous  tendencies.  The  laws  of  our  nature,  in  the 
present  life,  are  such,  that  the  strongest  principle  will 
23. 


326  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

be,  with  most  men,  but  intermittent  in  its  action,  and 
extremely  prone  to  decay,  unless  sustained  by  social 
regulations,  which  are  like  a  heavy  balance-wheel,  not 
indeed  the  moving  power  itself,  but  a  sort  of  deposito- 
ry thereof,  whence  it  is  distributed  in  timely  supplies  to 
all  parts  of  the  multitudinous  machinery. 

"  With  respect  to  the  communion  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, we  may  be  told,  that  it  is  questionable  whether  this 
institution  was  intended  as  an  absolute  ordinance,  that 
is,  as  perpetually  and  universally  obligatory  by  force  of 
a  positive  command.  We  think  so  too.  We  have 
doubts  of  the  existence  of  ordinances  in  Christianity  ; 
we  mean  in  the  usual  technical  sense  of  the  term.  But 
then  we  must  not  overlook  the  fact,  that  rites  or  formal 
observances  of  some  kind,  are,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
inseparable  from  social  religion.  What  are  all  our  reg- 
ulations and  usages,  our  selection  of  a  preacher,  the 
appointment  of  our  meetings  on  Sundays,  our  simulta- 
neous gathering,  the  postures  we  assume,  the  order  of 
exercises,  &c.,  —  what  are  they  but  forms  ?  There  is 
an  absurdity  into  which  we  may  here  fall,  through  inad- 
vertence. With  the  laudable  aim  of  preserving  simpli- 
city in  religion,  some  have  thought  it  necessary  to  decry 
observances  in  general ;  but  the  utmost  they  can  do,  in 
this  respect,  is  to  discard  the  old  and  adopt  new.  Wit- 
ness the  Quakers.  The  very  channels  of  all  social  in- 
tercourse are  artificial  forms  and  signs,  more  or  less 
defined.  Society  as  inevitably  grows  up  with  them,  as 
men  with  their  fleshly  bodies.  And  when  we  institute 
societies  for  the  diffusion  or  promotion  of  religion,  forms 
will,  in  spite  of  us,  adhere  to  them.  The  only  practi- 
cable questions  are,  What  are  the  proper  ones  ?  and, 
To  what  intent  ought  we  to  observe  them  ?  Now,  in 
the  ceremony  of  the  Lord's  supper,  there  is  so  natural 
a  significance,  and  so  great  a  simplicity,  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult for  us  to  conceive  of  objections  to  it,  except  on  the 
absurd  ground  of  former  abuse,  or  with  equally  absurd 
aim  of  discarding  every  thing  of  the  kind.  It  falls  nat- 
urally into  the  train  of  usages  in  all  climes  and  states 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  327 

of  society  ;  and  it  has  so  many  affecting  associations,  is 
so  connected  with  the  most  touching  incidents  in  our 
Saviour's  life,  that  it  can  hardly  fail  of  setting  him  be- 
fore our  minds  with  peculiar  efficiency.  We  might  ap- 
peal to  matter  of  fact  ;  and  we  are  confident  it  would 
appear,  on  inquiry,  that  .those  of  our  churches  which 
have  regularly  observed  it  as  a  memorial  of  our  Lord, 
have  actually  found  it  attended  with  the  best  of  influ- 
ences on  the  communicants,  and,  through  them,  on 
others. 

u  Another  consideration,  before  we  pass.  In  join- 
ing a  church  and  partaking  of  the  Lord'  Supper,  there 
naturally  arises  a  sense  of  increased  responsibility  as- 
sumed in  so  sacred  a  profession  ;  and  this  sense  itself, 
if  properly  cherished,  will  be  fruitful  in  good  results. 
We  may,  indeed,  argue,  abstractly,  that  men  are  always 
under  the  same  responsibilities,  whatever  their  relation. 
Tn  one  sense,  this  may  be  true  ;  but  certainly  in  no  way 
to  conflict  with  our  proposition.  So  we  may  argue, 
too,  that  the  citizen  owes  his  country  all  the  service  he 
can  render  it,  and  that  his  public  responsibility,  there- 
fore, can  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished  by  any 
change  of  circumstance  ;  but  common  sense  and  con- 
science tell  us,  that  in  the  character  of  a  sentinel,  or  gen- 
eral of  an  army,  or  representative  to  a  foreign  court,  he 
has  peculiar  responsibilities  which  do  not  belong  to  him 
in  the  private  retirement  of  his  fireside.  And  it  is  false 
logic,  that  would  persuade  the  Christian,  who  makes  a 
public  profession  of  religion,  that  he  has  no  additional 
responsibility  growing  out  of  his  new  relation  to  the 
world.  Now  this  responsibility  of  a  distinct  profession, 
is  what  every  follower  of  Jesus  Christ  is  required  to 
take  upon  himself,  by  the  whole  tenor  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. Has  this  duty  been  sufficiently  attended  to,  by 
the  members  of  our  denomination  ?  If  not,  sin  lieth 
at  our  door,  undermining  the  foundation  of  our  public 
edifices,  while  we  are  fondly  rejoicing  in  the  rapidity  of 
its  upward  progress  ;  a  progress  which,  in  that  case, 
can  only  insure  its  fall.  There  can  be  no  question,  that 


328  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  real,  permanent  strength  of  our  community  lies  not 
in  its  numbers  of  all  sorts  and  characters,  not  in  the 
multitude  of  its  new  accessions,  but  in  that  smaller  body 
of  believers,  whose  faith  is  their  moral  and  spiritual  life  ; 
and  every  means  should  be  employed  which  will  cher- 
ish this  principle  and  diffuse  it  more  widely  among  us. 
Let  those  who  are  actuated  by  it,  solemnly  pledge 
themselves  together,  in  the  name  of  their  Master,  and 
they  will  give  new  strength  to  their  own  resolves,  and 
additional  influence  to  their  example  on  the  rest  of  the 
community.  The  same  law  of  our  nature  holds  good 
here,  that  operates  in  other  enterprises,  in  which  cove- 
nants somewhat  similar  have  been  tried  with  a  success 
truly  astonishing." 

IV.  Mr.  Balfour  has  also  written  earnestly  on  this 
subject,  and  defended  the  Lord's  Supper  as  an  institu- 
tion binding  on  Christians  at  the  present  day,  by  the 
express  command  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  We  make  a 
brief  extract  from  an  article  of  his,  published  some 
years  since,  on  the  words  of  Paul,  1  Cor.  xi.  23-26, 
to  which  the  attention  of  the  reader  is  directed. 

"  The  general  phraseology  Paul  uses,  seems  to  be 
taken  from  the  accounts  given  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
Matt.  xxvi.  26  -  29  ;  Mark  xiv.  22  -  25  ;  Luke  xxii. 
19,  20.  Some  of  the  phrases  are  precisely  the  same, 
and  most  of  them  are  the  same  in  substance.  I  am  in- 
clined to  think,  Paul  received  his  information  about  the 
Lord's  Supper,  principally  from  Luke,  or  his  gospel, 
for  he  only  uses  the  words  '  this  do  in  remembrance 
of  me.'  Paul  uses  these  words  twice,  after  taking  the 
bread  in  the  Lord's  Supper  as  well  as  the  cup.  And 
Luke's  account  seems  to  imply,  that  our  Lord  used 
them  twice.  Permit  me  here  to  ask,  do  not  these 
words  contain  a  command  to  observe  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per ?  A  command,  not  only  from  Paul  as  an  apostle, 
but  a  command  from  the  Lord  himself.  If  the  words, 
'  Tliis  do  in  remembrance  o/me,'  do  not  amount  to  a 
command,  what  words  would  amount  to  this  ?  What 
do  they  mean,  if  this  is  denied  ? 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  329 

"  Again  :  Paul  here  says,  the  Lord's  Supper  was  in- 
stituted c  the  same  night  in  which  Jesus  was  betrayed,' 
which  agrees  with  the  accounts  given  of  it  in  the  gos- 
pels. It  appears  to  me  from  them,  that  the  passover 
was  eaten  that  night  by  Jesus  and  his  disciples  in  the 
usual  manner ;  and  that  the  Lord's  Supper  took  place  at 
the  close  of  it,  and  before  they  rose  from  the  table. 
Paul  takes  no  notice  of  the  passover  ;  or  intimates  that 
it  was  the  Lord's  Supper  ;  or  that  the  passover  was 
changed  into  the  Lord's  Supper  on  that  occasion.  If 
any  thing  like  this  is  suggested,  either  in  the  gospels,  or 
by  Paul  in  this  passage,  I  confess  my  inability  to  per- 
ceive it. 

u  Again  :  The  design  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  stated 
in  the  gospels  and  by  Paul,  is  the  same.  4  This  do  in 
remembrance  of  me,'  said  our  Lord.  And  Paul  here 
says,.'  This  do  ye,  as  oft  as  ye  drink  it,  in  remem- 
brance of  me.  For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread,  and 
drink  this  cup,  ye  do  shew  the  Lord's  death  till  he 
come.'  I  am  aware,  some  say,  the  phrase  c  till  he 
come,'  only  means,  until  he  came  at  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem.  But  where  is  the  proof  of  this  ?  It  is 
certain  our  Lord  is  to  come  at  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  as  1  Thes.  iv.  15,  and  other  passages  show.  Be- 
sides, I  ask,  can  any  good  reason  be  assigned,  why 
Christians  should  show  forth  the  Lord's  death  before, 
and  not  after,  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  ?  I  may  also 
ask,  were  Christians  who  lived  before  this  period,  more 
likely  to  forget  Christ's  death  than  those  who  lived  after 
it  ?  Were  they  who  saw  it  take  place,  under  the  ne- 
cessity of  showing  it  forth  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  re- 
fresh their  memories  with  it,  and  yet  are  we  so  prone  to 
remember  his  death,  that  we  have  no  need  to  do  this  ? 
He  that  can  believe  this  let  him  believe  it,  but  I  pray 
to  be  excused. 

"  Such,  in  brief,  are  my  views  of  this  passage  con- 
cerning the  Lord's  Supper.  But  if  I  am  mistaken,  and 
if  it  can  be  shown  that  there  is  no  divine  command  for 
its  observance,  I  shall  abandon  them.  I  will  do  more  ; 
28* 


330  PLAIN  GUEDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

J  will  pay  no  regard  to  the  observance  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  on  the  ground  of  expediency  or  utility.  It  will 
be  of  no  use  to  urge  its  observance  on  me  from  these 
grounds,  or  even  on  the  ground  of  love  and  gratitude 
to  the  Saviour,  until  it  is  proved,  that  I  do  show  my 
love  and  gratitude  to  him  by  doing  things  he  has  not 
commanded.  But,  when  this  is  proved,  I  shall  be  at  a 
little  loss  to  prove,  that  the  Catholics  are  of  all  Chris- 
tians the  most  grateful  to  him,  for,  in  doing  things  Christ 
has  not  commanded,  they  excel  all  others.  I  suspect, 
Qniversalists  would,  on  this  ground,  be  deemed  the 
most  ungrateful  sect  in  the  land,  for  comparatively  few 
of  them  pay  much  regard  to  human  inventions  in  reli- 
gion, out  of  gratitude  and  love  to  Jesus  Christ.  It  is 
true,  some  deny  there  is  any  command  to  observe 
the  Lord's  Day,  the  Lord's  Supper,  or  baptism,  yet 
pay  regard  to  them  on  the  ground  of  expediency,  utili- 
ty, and  in  compliance  with  people's  prejudices.  Other 
sects  have  reproached  us  with  a  neglect  of  these  things, 
which  they  deem  divine  institutions.  But  if  they  are 
not,  have  not  foundation  in  divine  authority,  it  appears 
to  me  they  ought  to  be  utterly  abandoned  as  human  in- 
ventions, for  we  are  Christ's  friends  if  we  do  '  what- 
soever he  hath  commanded  its.' 

"  To  conclude.  If  there  be  no  divine  authority  for 
Christians  to  observe  the  Lord's  Day,  baptism,  and  the 
Lord's  Supper,  I  sincerely  wish  some  person  would 
make  this  manifest,  for  I  have  no  desire  to  have  the 
confounding  question  put  to  me,  '  Who  hath  required 
such  things  at  your  hand  ? '  When  I  am  satisfied  they 
are  not  sanctioned  by  divine  authority,  I  will  pay  no 
regard  to  them.  I  shall  trouble  no  one  with  rny  preju- 
dices in  favor  of  them,  on  any  ground  whatever,  but 
shall  discard  them,  as  I  do  all  human  inventions  in  reli- 
gion. To  be  consistent,  I  must  do  this  ;  for  how  can 
I  act  otherwise,  yet  blame  Catholics  for  many  things 
which  they  practise." 

V.  The  question  is  very  frequently  asked,  "  Who 
may,  with  propriety,  join  in  the  celebration  of  the  Sup- 
per ?  "  This  is  an  important  question.  We  will  an- 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  331 

swer  it  according  to  the  best  of  our  ability.  We  say, 
then,  that  all  who  believe  in  Christ,  as  the  Son  of  God, 
the  sent  of  the  Father;  who  give  credence  to  his  in- 
structions, and  who  endeavour  to  honor  their  profession 
of  faith  in  the  Redeemer  with  well-ordered  lives  and 
conversation.  No  other  qualification  was  required  by 
the  primitive  disciples,  if  we  understand  their  practice 
as  recorded  in  the  New  Testament.  This  is  manifest- 
ly a  proper  qualification.  The  object  of  the  festival  is 
to  bear  up  a  remembrance  of  Christ,  as  the  Saviour  of 
the  world,  and  to  "  show  forth  his  death."  Those, 
therefore,  who  have  no  faith  in  Christ  as  the  anointed 
and  sent  of  God,  cannot  with  propriety  attend  to  the 
ordinance,  neither  would  they  feel  any  desire  to  do  so. 
The  institution  would  possess  no  interest  in  their  view  ; 
but  would,  on  the  contrary,  be  regarded  by  them  as 
one  of  the  rites  of  a  spurious  religion.  We  adhere, 
therefore,  to  the  position  at  first  advanced,  —  that  all 
who  believe  in  Christ  as  the  appointed  Saviour  of  the 
world,  and  who  endeavour  to  honor  him  in  their  lives, 
may,  with  propriety,  join  in  the  celebration  of  the 
Supper. 

But,  it  may  be  inquired,  "  Do  you  have  no  other 
test  ?  Is  it  not  necessary,  that  persons  should  previ- 
ously have  been  converted  ?  " 

It  is  necessary  people  should  have  been  previously 
converted,  if  they  are  not  believers  in  the  religion  of 
Christ.  We  suppose  them  to  have  been  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  religion  of  Jesus,  and  his  character 
as  their  master,  when  we  say  they  believe  in  Christ  as 
the  appointed  Saviour  of  the  world.  If  this  has  been 
made  a  matter  of  gradual  education  (the  best  means  of 
being  brought  to  know  Christ),  it  supersedes  of  course 
the  necessity  of  a  less  gradual  conversion.  There  is 
much  which  passes  in  the  world  under  the  name  of  con- 
version to  God,  which  we  think  is  very  far  from  being 
so.  As  to  a  radical  change  of  nature,  it  is  impossible 
in  itself,  and  cannot  therefore  be  regarded  as  a  qualifi- 
cation. We  do  not  think  it  necessary,  that  a  man 


332  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

should  believe  in  the  dogmas  of  any  of  the  sects,  such 
as  total  depravity,  endless  hell  torments,  the  trinity,  VK 
carious  atonement,  &c.,  to  qualify  him  ;  and  for  the  very 
best  of  all  reasons,  viz.  because  those  doctrines  are 
not  taught  in  the  Scriptures.  The  only  qualification 
required  by  the  primitive  disciples,  was  a  rational  and 
practical  faith  in  Jesus,  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  the 
Saviour  of  the  world. 

It  is  asked,  "  Must  they  not  have  joined  a  church  ?  " 
The  Greek  word  exxJujvia  rendered  church,  signifies  an 
assembly,  a  company,  and  was  applied  to  any  assembly 
of  persons  ;  see  Acts  xix.  32,  where  it  is  rendered 
assembly.  When  applied  to  Christians,  it  signified  the 
company  of  Christian  believers, — all  who  had  em- 
braced Christ  as  the  sent  of  God.  In  this  sense  it  is 
necessary  to  become  members  of  the  church,  that  is, 
it  is  necessary  to  be  a  Christian,  —  and  to  be  known 
and  ranked  as  such, — -to  make  an  open  profession  of 
your  faith  in  Christ.  We  regret  the  present  distinction 
of  Christians  into  two  parties,  the  church  and  the  con- 
gregation ;  and  we  recommend  a  measure  which  will 
abolish  the  distinction.  Let  all  Christian  believers  join 
the  visible  church.  This  act  is  saying  to  the  world,  u  I 
believe  in  Christ, — I  am  willing  to  have  it  known,  —  I 
am  not  ashamed  of  my  Lord,  —  I  love  the  fellowship 
of  his  disciples,  —  and  I  respect  his  ordinances."  If 
this  recommendation  should  be  followed,  the  wall  of 
separation  between  the  Christian  church,  and  the  Chris- 
tian congregation  would  be  thrown  down  ;  and  of  the 
twain  there  would  be  one  flesh.  All  then,  (excepting 
children  not  arrived  to  years  of  sufficient  judgment,) 
would  join  the  celebration,  as  they  certainly  should. 
It  is  too  often  the  case  now,  that  when  the  Supper  is 
administered,  five  sixths  of  the  Christians  present,  and 
sometimes  more,  rise  and  leave  the  house,  as  though 
they  had  of  right  no  part  or  lot  in  the  matter  whatso- 
ever. u  These  things  ought  not  so  to  be."  It  is  rad- 
ically wrong,  and  the  practice  ought  to  be  changed  as 
speedily  as  possible.  It  is  wrong  in  itself,  as  well  as 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  333 

wounding  to  the  feelings  of  the  officiating  clergyman, 
and  to  the  members  who  remain,  thus  to  be  forsaken, 
as  it  were,  by  their  brethren.  This  state  of  things 
ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  exist  another  year  ;  the 
good  sense  of  the  community  should  put  an  end  to  it. 

Is  it  asked,  whether  we  would  compel  people  to  ob- 
serve the  ordinance  against  their  wishes  ?  We  answer, 
no.  But  every  Christian  ought  to  have  a  strong  desire 
to  use  all  proper  means  whereby  Christ  and  his  religion 
may  be  kept  in  remembrance.  We  would  do  no  vio- 
lence to  the  will  ;  but  we  would  endeavour  to  change  it, 
and  bring  it  into  acquiescence  to  the  spirit  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  There  is  nothing  disagreeable,  nor  griev- 
ous in  the  service  ;  it  is  both  pleasant  and  reasonable. 
It  is  of  vast  benefit  to  the  church.  It  stands  forth  as  a 
proof  of  the  religion  of  Christ,  being  a  constant  festi- 
val, which  has  been  kept  up  from  the  age  of  Christ  to 
the  present  time.  If  Jesus  did  not  live  and  die  for 
men  according  to  the  Scriptures,  how  could  this  insti- 
tution, which  is  designed  to  commemorate  his  death, 
ever  have  been  established  ?  The  deceit  would  have 
been  so  palpable  in  the  first  attempt,  that  it  could  not 
possibly  have  succeeded.  When  it  was  at  first  establish- 
ed, therefore,  it  must  have  been  known,  that  Jesus  was 
present ;  because  the  original  account  avers,  that  he  was 
present,  andahe  apostles  could  not  have  been  deceived 
about  it.  He  declared  that  he  should  die  upon  the 
cross,  and  this  ordinance  is  a  perpetual  memorial  of  it, 
publicly  observed.  Now  if  he  did  not  die  upon  the 
cross,  according  to  his  foretelling,  how  could  this  in- 
stitution ever  have  been  set  up  ;  for  the  deceit  would 
have  been  so  palpable,  that  it  would  have  exposed  it- 
self. This  institution  has  been  handed  down  from  age 
to  age,  without  intermission,  and  is  a  standing  memori- 
al, an  invincible  argument,  that  Jesus  lived  and  died  for 
men.  If  this  institution  should  cease,  one  of  the  evi- 
dences of  our  religion  would  be  impaired.  What 
Christian  then  will  think  it  unimportant  ?  Who  among 
you,  brethren  Universalists,  will  be  indifferent  to  the 


334  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

subject  ?  Of  all  others,  you  feel  the  strongest  obliga- 
tions to  love  and  honor  Jesus,  the  Lord  of  glory,  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  Can  you  decline,  then, — you 
who  have  quenched  your  thirst  at  the  fountain  of  living 
waters  ?  Will  you  be  unwilling  to  do  your  part  in 
transmitting  to  future  generations  this  evidence  of  the 
holy  religion  you  possess  ? 

There  are  people  in  the  community  of  very  doubt- 
ful, humble  minds,  who  are  kept  away  from  the  table 
of  the  Lord  by  the  fear  that  they  are  not  sufficiently 
pure,  and  that,  if  they  make  a  profession  of  religion,  they 
shall  dishonor  the  cause  of  Christ. 

If  in  fact  you  are  truly  sensible  that  you  are  unwor- 
thy to  profess  the  religion  of  Christ,  your  duty  is  very 
evident,  viz.  to  amend  your  life,  and  bring  all  your  ac- 
tions into  a  happy  agreement  with  the  wholesome  and 
highly  reasonable  commands  which  Jesus  has  given  the 
world,  so  that  in  this  respect  you  are  without  excuse  ; 
for  if,  by  any  known  violation  of  duty,  or  any  impropri- 
ety whatsoever,  of  heart  and  life,  you  are  fearful,  by  a 
profession  of  religion,  you  shall  bring  reproach  upon 
the  cause  of  Christ,  it  is  evident  that  the  work  of  re- 
formation should  speedily  begin.  We  put  the  question 
to  the  conscience,  whether  every  man  ought  not  to  live 
such  a  life,  as  would  reflect  honor  upon  the  religion  of 
his  Master  ? 

We  do  not,  however,  hold  to  perfection,  neither  in 
spirit  or  conduct,  here  on  earth.  All  men  are  liable  to 
err,  even  the  most  constantly  watchful.  It  was  on  this 
account  in  part,  as  we  apprehend,  that  the  institution 
was  established.  Jesus  knew  the  frailties  of  his  follow- 
ers. He  knew  they  would  be  in  danger  of  forgetting 
him,  his  toils,  sacrifices,  and  death  ;  and  for  this  rea- 
son he  instituted  a  festival,  the  design  of  which  should 
be  to  keep  him  in  their  remembrance.  This  is  a  circum- 
stance which  will  show,  that  the  institution  was  design- 
ed for  imperfect  man,  — forgetful,  apt  to  err,  to  forsake 
his  master,  and  give  all  his  thoughts  to  the  world.  This 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  335 

was  intended  to  call  him  back,  and  quicken  good  reso- 
lutions on  his  part ;  to  lead  him  from  the  heart  to  pray, 

"Call  me  away  from  flesh  and  sense, 
Thy  sovereign  word  can  draw  me  thence  j 
I  would  obey  the  voice  divine, 
And  all  inferior  joys  resign." 

The  objection,  therefore,  which  we  are  considering, 
is  not  a  valid  one.  The  service  shows  itself  to  be 
commended  to  imperfect  men,  as  a  help  to  them  in  the 
path  of  virtue.  We  are  perfectly  willing  to  confess, 
that  it  is  the  influence  of  religion,  pure  and  undefiled, 
to  make  men  virtuous  and  good  ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  those  who  profess  religion,  to  shine  before  men  in 
good  works,  and  in  pure  and  heavenly  example  ;  but 
we  question  whether  the  means  of  piety  are  to  be 
neglected  entirely,  until  a  man  has  acquired  that  state 
of  holiness  and  perfection,  to  which  these  means  are 
designed  to  lead  him.  Suppose  the  scholar  should  say, 
that  he  would  no  longer  go  to  school.  On  being  inquired 
of  as  to  the  reason,  he  replies,  "  Ido  not  know  enough 
to  go  to  school.  I  am  too  ignorant."  What  would  be 
said  to  him  ?  Would  he  not  be  told,  that  his  plea  was 
altogether  inadmissible  ?  Schools  are  designed  for  the 
ignorant,  to  increase  their  knowledge.  If  you  are  ig- 
norant, you  have  need  to  attend  the  school ;  you  will  thus 
grow  wiser.  No  rule  can  be  more  obviously  correct  than 
this,  that  the  circumstance  which  renders  any  thing 
necessary,  cannot  be  adduced  as  an  objection  against  it. 
Of  the  same  character  is  the  objection  frequently  made 
against  celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper. 

The  individual  is  persuaded  that  he  is  not  sufficiently 
good  ;  he  wishes  he  was  a  better  man  ;  but  he  is  not 
very  strict,  and  he  is  afraid  he  shall  bring  reproach  upon 
the  cause.  It  was  for  such  persons  as  you  are,  that 
the  festival  was  intended.  It  will,  if  properly  and  reg- 
ularly observed,  impress  religion  more  forcibly  upon  the 
mind,  and  be  a  means  of  advantage  and  improvement 
to  you. 

We  do  not  mean  to  say,  that  those  who  observe  the 


336  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

ordinance  should  not  keep  a  careful  watch  over  their 
lives  ;  they  certainly  should  do  so.  We  mean  only  to 
assert,  that  this  ordinance  was  designed  as  a  help  to  a 
pious  life,  to  encourage  men  to  virtue  and  benevolence 
by  keeping  in  their  remembrance  the  religion  of  their 
divine  Master.  It  was,  then,  evidently  designed  for 
weak,  erring,  ungrateful  creatures;  and  such  should 
endeavour,  in  sincerity,  to  make  such  a  use  of  the  in- 
stitution as  should  put  them  on  their  guard  against  their 
frailties.  It  is  not  certain,  that  we  express  our  thoughts 
happily,  or  intelligently  to  others  ;  but  our  object  is 
to  remove  an  objection  which  exists  in  the  minds 
of  many  modest,  tender,  doubting  persons,  arising 
from  the  supposition,  that  a  person  must  be  abso- 
lutely holy,  before  he  can  avail  himself  of  the  benefit 
of  the  ordinance.  We  are  persuaded,  such  an  im- 
pression has  been  an  injury,  instead  of  a  benefit.  It 
would  be  a  matter  of  regret,  if  these  remarks  should 
be  so  far  misunderstood,  as  to  lead  the  reader  to  sup- 
pose we  would  approve  of  introducing  the  vile  and 
abandoned  to  the  table  of  the  Lord.  Such  will  have 
no  wish  to  come  ;  they  have  no  relish  for  such  a  ser- 
vice. They  probably  have  no  faith  in  Christ,  and  have 
never  derived  any  enjoyment  from  his  glorious  Gospel. 
They  do  not  find  their  interest  in  these  things.  But 
there  are  many  people  in  the  community,  kind,  gener- 
ous, honest  Christians,  who  are  kept  away,  through  the 
mistaken  opinion,  that  a  person  must  be  absolutely  un- 
defiled,  and  righteous,  or  he  cannot  with  propriety  cel- 
ebrate the  death  of  Christ.  The  argument  we  have 
here  advanced,  is  designed  for  them.  And  now  breth- 
ren, (and  sisters  too,  for  you  are  equally  interested,) 
will  you  seriously  reflect  upon  this  subject  ?  If  you 
are  true  believers  in  the  Son  of  God,  —  if  you  love 
his  doctrine, — if  you  are  desirous  that  his  kingdom 
shall  be  established  in  the  world,  —  if  you  are  anxious 
that  it  shall  descend  to  future  generations,  say  so.  Say 
it,  not  in  a  cold  form  of  words,  but  in  the  vigor  and 
constancy  of  your  zeal,  and  in  the  habitual  observance 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  CHURCHES.  337 

of  the  commands  of  Christ.  Be  a  Christian  in  private, 
and  also  before  the  world.  Live  a  Christian's  life. 
Bear  about  with  you  wherever  you,  go,  the  remem- 
brance of  what  you  are.  Such  a  course  will  be  of  vast 
advantage  to  you.  It  will  afford  you, 

"  What  nothing  earthly  gives,  or  can  destroy, 
The  soul's  calm  sunshine,  and  the  heartfelt  joy." 


CHAPTER  X. 

ON  THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  CHURCHES,  AND  THE  ADMINIS- 
TRATION OF  THE  SUPPER. 

I.  THE  form  we  have  presented  in  another  chapter, 
as  the  Constitution  of  a  religious  society,  might  also,  in 
the  main,  be  adopted  as  the  Constitution  of  a  Christian 
church  ;  but  as  it  is  necessary  in  the  most  of  cases,  in 
Massachusetts,  to  establish  a  church  in  distinction  from 
the  society,  and  will  be  so  as  long  as  the  present  state 
of  societies  shall  continue,  we  have  judged  it  best  to 
prepare  a  Constitution  for  a  Christian  church,  which  we 
commend  to  the  attention  of  all  our  fellow  believers 
throughout  the  land.  In  some  cases,  especially  in  Bos- 
ton, it  is  impossible  to  guard  the  society  against  the  ad- 
mission of  members,  whatever  their  religious  opinions 
may  be.  For  what  is  a  religious  society  in  Boston  ? 
It  is  the  proprietors  of  the  meeting-house,  the  owners  of 
the  pews  therein.  These  pews  may  be  transferred  from 
one  to  another,  at  the  will  of  the  owners  ;  and  the  pur- 
chaser has  the  full  and  legal  right  to  attend  all  proprie- 
tors' meetings,  and  vote  in  all  the  concerns  of  the  cor- 
poration, whether  he  be  Christian,  Jew,  Mahometan, 
or  heathen.  The  whole  business  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
proprietors  of  pews,  and  we  suppose,  of  right,  ought 
to  be,  not  excepting  the  selection  and  settlement  of  the 
pastor.  Such  a  corporation  may  continually  change. 
At  one  time  a  majority  of  the  proprietors  may  be  of  a 
29 


338  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

certain  faith,  at  another  time,  they  may  be  of  a  faith 
the  very  reverse  of  this.  Men  very  frequently  pur- 
chase pews  without  any  reference  to  religious  con- 
siderations ;  they  may  do  it  for  pecuniary  profit ; 
they  may  be  obliged  to  take  them  in  security  of  a 
debt  ;  the  pews  may  descend  to  them  legally  on  the 
death  of  the  owner.  Under  this  state  of  things,  it  is 
not  certain,  that  a  body  of  proprietors  will  remain  pro- 
fessors of  the  Christian  religion.  There  is  no  security 
for  this.  They  have  no  power  to  prevent  any  man  from 
becoming  one  of  their  number,  whatever  his  opinions, 
or  whatever  his  motives  may  be,  if  he  can  obtain  the 
possession  of  a  pew.  This  state  of  things  exists  not 
only  in  Boston,  but  in  various  other  parts  of  the  Com- 
monwealth ;  and  the  same  remarks  will  apply?  where 
the  ownership  of  the  meeting-house  is  lodged,  not  in  the 
hands  of  pew-owners,  but  in  the  hands  of  the  builders, 
or  in  any  other  way. 

II.  To  preserve,  therefore,  the  Christian  institution 
pure,  it  is  necessary  to  have  connected  with  each  socie- 
ty a  body  of  Christian  believers,  who  shall  have  the 
power  to  admit  or  exclude  members,  according  as  they 
shall  judge  their  duty,  and  the  directions  of  the  New 
Testament  require.  Such  an  institution  we  call  a  Chris- 
tian church, — a  body,  or  assembly  of  Christian  believ- 
ers. The  New  Testament  certainly  calls  on  Christians 
to  make  a  PROFESSION  of  their  faith.  What  is  the 
meaning  of  that  forcible  expression,  that  the  followers 
of  Christ  shall  have  the  Father's  name  written  in  their 
FOREHEADS,  except,  that  they  are  to  make  the  most 
open  and  undisguised  PROFESSION  of  their  faith  ?  "  And 
I  looked,  and  lo,  a  Lamb  stood  on  the  Mount  Sion, 
and  with  him  a  hundred  and  forty  and  four  thousand, 
having  his  Father's  name  written  in  their  foreheads." 
"  These  were  redeemed  from  among  men,  being  the 
first  fruits  unto  God  and  the  Lamb."  Rev.  xiv.  1,  4. 
The  forehead  is  the  most  conspicuous  part  of  the  hu- 
man form  ;  and  when  it  is  said,  that  Christians  had  the 
Father's  name  written  in  their  foreheads,  it  means,  that 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  CHURCHES.  339 

they  were  not  ashamed  of  God  and  his  cause, — they 
made  the  most  public  profession  of  their  faith  in  Him, 
—  wherever  they  went  they  bore  about  with  them  the 
fullest  evidence  of  their  attachment.  This  it  was  their 
duty  to  do  ;  and  this  duty  is  repeatedly  enjoined  in  the 
New  Testament.  Hear  the  language  of  the  Saviour. 
u  Whosoever,  therefore,  shall  be  ashamed  of  me  and 
of  my  words  in  this  adulterous  and  sinful  generation, 
of  him  also  shall  the  Son  of  man  be  ashamed,  when  he 
cometh  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  with  the  holy  an- 
gels." Mark  viii.  38.  The  early  Christians  were  re- 
quired to  hold  fast  the  PROFESSION  of  their  faith,  Heb. 
x.  23  ;  and  Paul  commends  Timothy  for  having  "  pro- 
fessed a  good  profession  before  many  witnesses,"  1 
Tim.  vi.  12.  The  early  disciples  professed  their  Master 
in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  trials  and  persecutions.  They 
knew,  that  if  they  named  the  name  of  Christ,  it  was  at 
the  peril  of  their  lives.  The  history  of  their  trials  is 
enough,  one  would  think,  to  draw  tears  from  eyes  that 
never  wept  before.  Paul  says,  they  "had  trial  of 
cruel  mockings  and  scourgings,  yea,  moreover,  of  bonds 
and  imprisonment ;  they  were  stoned  ;  they  were  sawn 
asunder,  were  tempted,  were  slain  with  the  sword  ;  they 
wandered  about  in  sheep  skins  and  goat  skins  ;  being 
destitute,  afflicted,  tormented  ;  they  wandered  in  deserts, 
and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth." 
Heb.  xi.  36-38.  Such  is  the  melancholy  picture  of 
their  sufferings.  But  in  the  midst  of  these  dangers  and 
trials,  they  "  held  fast  the  PROFESSION  of  their  faith." 
Shall  we,  then,  in  this  age,  — we  who  have  no  perse- 
cutions to  endure,  —  we  who  live  in  a  land  in  which 
we  are  protected  by  the  laws,  in  following  the  dictates 
of  our  consciences,  —  we  who  find  it  an  honor  rather 
than  shame,  to  profess  our  trust  in  our  Master,  —  shall 
we  hesitate  to  make  a  profession  of  our  faith  ?  Why 
are  we  indifferent  ?  Is  not  Christ  as  precious  to  us,  as 
he  was  to  his  early  disciples  ?  Did  he  not  die  for  us 
as  well  as  for  them  ?  Is  he  not  the  propitiation  for  our 
sins  ?  Why,  then,  we  ask  again,  are  we  indifferent.  It 


340  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

is  the  duty,  the  solemn  duty,  of  every  believer  in  the 
Son  of  God,  to  profess  his  Master  before  men,  as  did 
the  early  disciples. 

III.  But  what  do  we  mean  by  a  profession  of  reli- 
gion ?  it  may  be  asked.  The  answer  is  at  hand.  We 
mean  an  open  avowal  of  your  faith  in  Christ  ;  —  we 
mean,  that  you  should  take  rank  among  the  followers 
of  Jesus,  —  that  you  should  take  upon  yourself  the  dis- 
tinctness of  a  Christian,  —  that  you  should  join  publicly 
and  formally  the  Christian  church,  —  and  observe  the 
institutions  which  Jesus  recommended  to  his  followers. 
Such  we  regard  to  be  a  profession  of  religion,  and  such 
it  is  the  duty  of  every  person  of  suitable  age,  who  be- 
lieves in  the  Redeemer,  to  make.  That  this  is  the  du- 
ty of  every  person  who  believes  in  Christ,  will  appear 
still  more  evident,  if  we  consider  what  the  consequences 
would  be,  if  this  duty  were  totally  neglected  by  every 
one.  What  would  become  of  the  cause  of  religion  ? 
It  would  sink  and  come  to  nought.  The  Lord's  Sup- 
per would  go  into  disuse.  There  would  be  no  line  of 
distinction  between  the  believers  in  Jesus  and  the  world  ; 
and  soon,  we  fear,  the  cause  of  Christ  would  die,  and 
be  forgotten.  The  church  must  be  preserved  ;  and  we 
have  the  promise,  that  it  shall  stand,  and  that  the  gates 
of  hades  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  It  is  the  duty  of 
every  believer  in  Christ  to  come  forward  and  make  a 
public  profession  of  his  faith,  and  unite  himself  with  the 
visible  church  of  Christ  upon  the  earth.  Do  not  at- 
tempt to  excuse  yourself  by  saying,  that  if  you  do  not 
make  a  profession  of  religion,  others  will,  and,  therefore, 
the  visible  church  will  be  preserved.  It  is  no  more  the 
duty  of  others,  than  it  is  your  duty  ;  and  if  there  were 
any  reason  by  which  you  might  be  excused,  the  same 
reason  would  excuse  them. 

IV.     CONSTITUTION  OF  A  CHURCH. 

Preamble.  We,  whose  names  are  affixed  to  this 
instrument,  believing  that  it  is  our  duty  to  make  a  pub- 
lic profession  of  our  religious  faith  ;  and  feeling  sensible 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  CHURCHES.  341 

that  our  happiness,  and  our  growth  in  virtue  and  grace, 
depend,  in  a  great  degree,  under  God,  upon  our  obe- 
dience to  the  divine  requisitions,  and  upon  an  obser- 
vance of  the  institutions  of  Christ,  do  hereby  unite  our- 
selves into  a  church,  that  we  may  watch  over  each 
other  in  love,  and  enjoy  all  the  advantages  of  the  visible 
church  of  God  on  the  earth  :  and  we  adopt  the  follow- 
ing Profession  of  Faith  and  Form  of  Church  Govern- 
ment. 

PROFESSION  OF  FAITH. 

1st.  We  believe  in  the  existence  of  one  God,  the 
Creator  of  the  Universe,  the  Giver  of  life  and  every 
blessing,  who  is  infinite  in  wisdom,  power,  and  good- 
ness, and  in  every  possible  perfection. 

2d.  We  believe  in  Jesus,  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God, 
the  promised  Messiah,  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

3d.  We  believe  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  as  being  a  revelation  from  God,  as  con- 
taining rules  for  the  regulation  of  our  conduct  in  all  the 
relations  and  circumstances  of  life,  —  as  declaring  the 
character  and  government  of  God,  the  rewards  of  vir- 
tue, the  punishments  of  vice  ;  and  also  revealing  the 
great  truth  of  the  final  reconciliation  of  all  things  to 
God,  so  that  He  at  last  shall  be  ALL  IN  ALL.  1  Cor. 
xv.  28. 

4th.  We  believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  Christians  to 
meet  together  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  for  public 
worship  ;  to  seek  their  advancement  in  knowledge  and 
virtue,  by  reading  the  Scriptures,  and  attending  to  the 
means  of  grace  ;  to  abstain  from  vice  of  eveiy  descrip- 
tion, and  to  imitate,  as  far  as  possible,  the  perfection 
of  God,  and  the  examples  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

FORM  OF  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT. 
ARTICLE  1.     The  church  shall  hold  an  annual  meet- 
ing, for  the  purpose  of  choosing  its  officers,  and  trans- 
acting such  other  business  as  may  be  brought  before  it, 
and  deemed  necessary  to  its  prosperity,  on  the 

29* 


342  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

ARTICLE  2.  The  officers  of  the  church  shall  con- 
sist of  such  a  number  of  Deacons  as  shall  be  thought 
requisite,  and  of  a  Clerk  and  Treasurer.  These  offi- 
cers shall  be  chosen  by  ballot,  annually,  except  the 
Deacons,  who  shall  continue  in  office  during  good  be- 
haviour, or  until  they  resign. 

The  duty  of  the  Clerk  shall  be  to  keep  a  true  and 
faithful  record  of  all  the  meetings  and  proceedings  of 
the  church,  and  also  a  list  of  all  the  members. 

The  duty  of  the  Treasurer  shall  be,  to  take  care  of 
all  the  furniture  of  the  church,  —  to  receive  the  money 
collected  on  communion  days,  and  to  keep  a  regular 
account  thereof. 

The  duty  of  the  Deacons  shall  be,  to  furnish  the 
table,  and  to  assist  in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per. It  shall  also  be  their  duty  to  inquire  into,  and  re- 
lieve, the  wants  of  the  poor  of  the  church  and  society, 
•as  far  as  they  may  be  enabled  so  to  do,  by  collections 
taken  for  charitable  purposes. 

ARTICLE  3.  Any  person  giving  assent  to  the  Pro- 
fession *jf  Faith,  and  desiring  to  become  a  member  of 
this  church,  may  make  his  or  her  request  known  to  the 
Pastor  of  the  society,  or  to  either  of  the  Deacons  ; 
.and,  after  the  application  hath  laid  one  month,  he  or  she 
shall  become  a  member,  if  approved  by  a  majority  of 
the  members  present,  at  any  regular  meeting  of  the 
church.  Each  member  shall  sign  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  and  the  Form  of  Church  Government. 

ARTICLE  4.  If  any  member  wishes  to  withdraw 
from  the  church,  by  making  his  request  known  in  writ- 
ing, he  shall  have  the  liberty  of  so  doing. 

ARTICLE  5.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Church  to 
deal  with  offending  members  according  to  the  directions 
given  by  our  Saviour,  Matt,  xviii.  15,  16,  17  ;  and 
Luke  xvii.  3,  4.  The  church,  however,  disclaims  all 
authority  over  obstinate  offenders,  except  the  mere 
withdrawal  of  its  fellowship. 

ARTICLE  6.  Any  of  the  foregoing  articles  of  Church 
Government  may  be  altered,  amended,  or  stricken  out, 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  CHURCHES.  343 

or  others  may  be  annexed,   if,  by  two  thirds  of  the 
members  of  the  church,  it  may  be  thought  necessary. 

V.  CELEBRATION  OF  THE  SUPPER. 

It  is  the  usual  custom  of  Christian  churches  in  this 
country,  to  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper  once  in  each 
month.  There  are  no  directions  as  to  the  frequency 
of  the  celebration  in  the  New  Testament.  The  early 
Christians  placed  more  importance  on  the  object  and 
design  of  the  service,  than  upon  the  exact  time  in  which 
it  should  be  performed.  Paul  says,  "  For  as  often  as 
ye  eat  this  bread,  (not  stating  how  often  it  should  be 
done,)  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  show  the  Lord's  death 
till  he  come."  1  Cor.  xi.  26.  We  think  it  well  to 
follow  the  general  custom,  and  celebrate  the  communion 
monthly,  though  this  rule  may  not  prevent  the  celebra- 
tion at  other  times,  if  special  circumstances  should  ren- 
der it  necessary. 

Proposed  Form  of  Administering  the  Supper. 

The  usual  time  for  celebrating  the  Supper  is  at  the 
close  of  the  afternoon  service,  upon  the  Sabbath,  once 
in  each  month.  The  table  having  been  prepared  by 
the  deacons,  between  the  forenoon  and  afternoon  ser- 
vices, is  covered  with  a  cloth  during  public  worship. 
At  the  close  of  that  service,  the  minister  leaves  the 
pulpit,  and  takes  his  seat  at  the  table,  and  waits  until 
the  members  of  the  church  have  taken  their  places  as 
near  the  table  as  convenient,  and  until  silence  is  re- 
stored in  the  house.  He  then  removes  the  cloth  with 
which  the  vessels  and  elements  are  covered,  and  says, 

"  Beloved  Christian  friends,  we  are  now  about  to  cel- 
ebrate the  Lord's  Supper,  in  imitation  of  the  example  of 
our  Blessed  Redeemer  and  his  apostles  ;  and  as  we  are 
dependent  on  God  for  mercy  and  wisdom  to  guide  us 
in  all  things,  let  us  draw  nigh  the  throne  of  grace  in 
solemn  supplication  for  the  divine  blessing.  Let  us  pray. 

[Here  the  clergyman  will  offer  a  suitable  prayer.J 

u  Beloved  Christian  friends,  the  service  of  the  Supper 


344  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

was  instituted  by  our  Lord  himself,  on  the  same  night 
in  which  he  was  betrayed.  Jesus  took  bread,  and 
when  he  had  given  thanks,  he  brake  it,  and  gave  it  to 
his  disciples,  saying,  take,  eat,  this  is  my  body,  which 
is  given  for  you. 

[In  the  mean  time  the  clergyman  will  be  breaking  the 
bread.] 

During  the  breaking  of  the  bread,  he  will  occupy 
the  time  by  offering  such  remarks  as  seem  to  him  to  be 
suited  to  the  occasion.  He  will  not  fail  to  show  the 
original  design  of  the  institution,  viz.  to  keep  the  Lord 
Jesus  in  the  remembrance  of  his  followers.  u  This  do 
in  remembrance  of  me."  The  broken  bread  is  an  em- 
blem of  his  broken,  crucified. body  ;  and  is  always  so 
to  be  looked  on  in  this  service.  The  clergyman  should 
not,  therefore,  fail  to  carry  the  minds  of  the  communi- 
cants to  the  scene  of  the  crucifixion.  Direct  them  to 
view  the  Saviour's  sufferings,  —  the  cross,  the  crown 
of  thorns,  the  death  scene,  and  especially  to  remember 
the  dying  prayer  for  his  murderers,  "  Father,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  But  it  is  not 
necessary  that  the  clergyman  should  confine  himself  at 
all  times,  to  the  events  of  the  crucifixion.  Let  him 
think  of  the  Saviour's  words,  "  This  do  in  remem- 
brance of  me,"  and  he  will  see,  that  any  portion  of  the 
Saviour's  life  may  furnish  subject  for  reflection  at  the 
table.  The  feeling  that  will  pervade  his  heart  will  be 
that  of  a  solemn  joy, — a  deep  sense  of  affectionate 
gratitude  ;  nor  should  any  remarks  be  offered,  incon- 
sistent with  such  a  feeling.  O  what  an  opportunity  is 
there  here  for  solemn  reflection.  With  what  force  may 
the  speaker  impress  on  the  communicants  the  necessity 
of  humility,  and  of  setting  their  affection  on  things 
above. 

"  When  I  survey  the  wondrous  cross, 

On  which  the  Prince  of  Glory  died, 
My  richest  gain  I  count  but  loss, 

And  pour  contempt  on  all  my  pride." 

The  remarks,  however,  should  not  be  long ;  from 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  CHURCHES.  345 

three  to  five  minutes  is  sufficient.  Let  the  words  be 
Jew  and  fitly  chosen. 

The  bread  being  broken,  he  will  pass  it  to  the  dea- 
cons, (serving  himself  as  he  passes  the  last  plate,)  say- 
ing, u  Take,  eat  all  ye  of  it,  in  the  name  of  Him  who 
loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood." 

He  then  sits,  (his  mind  being  intently  fixed  on  the 
subject  before  him,)  until  the  plates  are  returned  to  the 
table  ;  or  he  may,  should  he  judge  it  best,  make  some 
remarks,  while  the  officers  are  serving  the  communi- 
cants. But  all  remarks  should  be  made  standing. 

The  bread  having  thus  been  served,  he  next  pro- 
ceeds to  serve  the  wine.  He  takes  the  cups  towards 
him,  saying,  Jesus  took  the  cup  and  gave  thanks.  In 
imitation  of  his  example,  let  us  once  more  approach  the 
throne  of  grace.  Let  us  pray. 

[Here  he  will  offer  a  prayer  suited  to  the  occasion.] 

While  he  is  pouring  the  wine,  (and  he  may  have  in- 
tervals between  the  filling  of  the  cups,  if  he  wishes  to 
extend  his  remarks,)  he  will  offer  suitable  thoughts  to 
guide  the  minds  of  the  communicants.  And  what 
thoughts  are  appropriate  while  serving  the  wine  ?  1st. 
It  is  an  emblem  of  the  shed  blood  of  the  Redeemer. 
For  whom  was  his  blood  shed  ?  For  all.  For  what 
purpose  did  he  die  ?  Will  that  purpose  be  accom- 
plished ?  Again.  The  Saviour  made  the  cup  also  a 
figure  of  the  £few  Covenant.  "  This  cup  is  the  New 
Testament  in  my  blood,  which  is  shed  for  you."  See 
Luke's  account.  The  wine  is  not  only  an  emblem  of 
the  shedding  of  the  Saviour's  blood  upon  the  cross, 
but  it  is  also  a  figure  of  his  doctrine.  And  so  it  was 
employed  by  the  prophets.  "  Come,  buy  wine  and 
milk,  without  money  and  without  price."  Jesus  says, 
we  must  drink  his  blood.  He  does  not  mean  in  the 
outward  and  literal  sense.  See  John  vi.  53-60.  He 
explains  his  metaphor  to  mean  his  doctrine,  verse  63. 
"11  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth  ;  the  flesh  profiteth 
nothing;  THE  WORDS  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are 
spirit  and  they  are  life."  From  all  these  subjects,  he 


346  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

who  administers  the  ordinance,  cannot  fail  to  draw 
profitable  reflections. 

He  passes  the  wine  to  the  deacons,  as  he  had  done 
the  bread,  and  then  sits  until  the  communicants  are 
served,  and  the  cups  returned. 

This  being  done,  an  appropriate  hymn  is  sung,  which 
it  is  always  best  should  be  sung  by  the  communicants  ; 
the  minister,  or  one  of  the  church,  starting  the  tune. 

After  the  hymn,  the  collection  is  generally  taken,  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  church,  and  for  charitable 
objects  ;  after  which  the  benediction  is  pronounced. 

And  now  the  author  will  not  close  this  chapter,  with- 
out a  humble  petition,  that  what  he  has  written  may  be 
the  means  of  inducing  those  who  agree  with  him  in 
faith  on  the  great  salvation,  to  pay  a  due  respect  to  the 
holy,  purifying  service  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

EVIDENCES  OF  REVEALED  RELIGION. 

I.  UNIVERSALISTS  feel  a  very  deep  interest  in  sustain- 
ing the  Christian  religion.  It  is  the  source  of  their  highest 
confidence  in  God,  and  of  the  enrapturing  hope  of  im- 
mortality. In  all  their  periodicals  special  attention  has 
been  paid  to  the  evidences  of  revealed  religion.  Cour- 
ses of  lectures,  on  this  subject,  have  been  preached  by 
them.  In  addition  to  these,  four  distinct  works,  in  de- 
fence of  revealed  religion,  have  been  published  by 
them  within  a  few  years. 

The  first  is  "  Lectures  in  Defence  of  Divine  Reve- 
lation," delivered  at  the  Universalist  chapel  in  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.  By  Rev.  David  Pickering,  Pastor  of  the 
First  Universalist  Church  and  Society,  in  that  place. 
1830.  The  second  is  "  Christianity  against  Infidelity, 
or  the  Truth  of  the  Gospel  History."  By  Rev. 
Thomas  B.  Thayer,  Pastor  of  the  First  Universalist 


EVIDENCES  OF  REVEALED  RELIGION.  347 

Society  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  1836.  The  third  is  "  An 
Argument  for  the  Truth  of  Christianity,"  in  a  series 
of  discourses,  by  Rev.  I.  D.  Williamson,  pastor  of 
the  Universalist  Society  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  1836. 
The  fourth  is  "  The  Causes  of  Infidelity  Removed," 
by  Rev.  Stephen  R.  Smith,  pastor  of  the  Universalist 
Society  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  1839. 

II.  As  it  was  desirable  to  include  in  this  work  a 
chapter  on  the  Evidences  of  Revealed  Religion,  the 
mind  of  the  author  has  been  much  exercised  as  to  the 
best  manner  of  introducing  a  large  amount  of  evidence 
into  a  small  compass.  It  has,  after  much  reflection, 
seemed  best  to  him,  on  the  whole,  to  republish  entire  the 
masterly  work  of  Leslie,  entitled  "  A  Short  and  Easy 
Method  with  the  Deists."  This  work  has  never  been 
answered  ;  and  an  answer  never  was  attempted,  except 
by  one  man,  who  finally  abandoned  his  design  in  de- 
spair. It  seems  impossible  that  a  man  should  read  it, 
and  not  be  satisfied  with  the  truth  of  revealed  religion. 


A  SHORT  AND  EASY  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS. 

BY    REV.    CHARLES    LESLIE,    M.    A. 

SIR,  —  In  answer  to  yours  of  the  third  instant,  I 
much  condole  with  you  your  unhappy  circumstances, 
of  being  placed  among  such  company,  where,  as  you 
say,  you  continually  hear  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  the 
histories  therein  contained,  particularly  of  Moses,  and 
of  Christ,  and  all  revealed  religion,  turned  into  ridicule 
by  men  who  set  up  for  sense  and  reason.  And  they 
say,  that  there  is  no  greater  ground  to  believe  in  Christ 
than  in  Mahomet  ;  that  all  these  pretences  to  revela- 
tion are  cheats,  and  ever  have  been  among  Pagans, 
Jews,  Mahometans,  and  Christians  ;  that  they  are  all 
alike  impositions  of  cunning  and  designing  men,  upon 
the  credulity,  at  first,  of  simple  and  unthinking  people, 
till,  their  numbers  increasing,  their  delusions  grew  pop- 
ular, and  came  at  last  to  be  established  by  laws  ;  and 


348  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

then  the  force  of  education  and  custom  gives  a  bias  to 
the  judgments  of  after  ages,  till  such  deceits  come  really 
to  be  believed,  being  received  upon  trust  from  the  ages 
foregoing,  without  examining  into  the  original  and 
bottom  of  them.  Which  these  our  modern  men  of 
sense  (as  they  desire  to  be  esteemed),  say,  that  they 
only  do  ;  that  they  only  have  their  judgments  freed 
from  the  slavish  authority  of  precedents  and  laws  in 
matters  of  truth,  which,  they  say,  ought  only  to  be  de- 
cided by  reason  ;  though  by  a  prudent  compliance  with 
popularity  and  laws,  they  preserve  themselves  from  out- 
rage and  legal  penalties  ;  for  none  of  their  complexion 
are  addicted  to  sufferings  or  martyrdom. 

Now,  Sir,  that  which  you  desire  from  me,  is,  some 
short  topic  of  reason,  if  such  can  be  found,  whereby, 
without  running  to  authorities,  and  the  intricate  mazes 
of  learning,  which  breed  long  disputes,  and  which  these 
men  of  reason  deny  by  wholesale,  though  they  can  give 
no  reason  for  it,  only  suppose  that  authors  have  been 
trumped  upon  us,  interpolated  and  corrupted,  so  that  no 
stress  can  be  laid  upon  them,  though  it  cannot  be  shown 
wherein  they  are  so  corrupted  ;  which,  in  reason,  ought 
to  lie  upon  them  to  prove  who  allege  it  ;  otherwise  it  is 
not  only  a  precarious,  but  a  guilty  plea  ;  and  the  more, 
that  they  refrain  not  to  quote  books  on  their  side,  for 
whose  authority  there  are  no  better,  or  not  so  good 
grounds.  However,  you  say,  it  makes  your  disputes 
endless,  and  they  go  away  with  noise  and  clamor,  and 
a  boast,  that  there  is  nothing,  at  least  nothing  certain, 
to  be  said  on  the  Christian  side.  Therefore  you  are 
desirous  to  find  some  one  topic  of  reason,  which  should 
demonstrate  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  at 
the  same  time  distinguish  it  from  the  impostures  of  Ma- 
homet and  the  old  Pagan  world  ;  that  our  deists  may 
be  brought  to  this  test,  and  be  either  obliged  to  renounce 
their  reason,  and  the  common  reason  of  mankind,  or  to 
submit  to  the  clear  proof,  from  reason,  of  the  Christian 
religion,  which  must  be  such  a  proof  as  no  imposture 
can  pretend  to,  otherwise  it  cannot  prove  the  Christian 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  349 

religion  not  to  be  an  imposture.  And  whether  such  a 
proof,  one  single  proof  (to  avoid  confusion),  is  not  to 
be  found  out,  you  desire  to  know  from  me. 

And  you  say,  that  you  cannot  imagine  but  there  must 
be  such  a  proof,  because  every  truth  is  in  itself  clear, 
and  one  ;  and,  therefore,  that  one  reason  for  it,  if  it  be 
the  true  reason,  must  be  sufficient ;  and,  if  sufficient,  it 
is  better  than  many  ;  for  multiplicity  confounds,  espe- 
cially to  weak  judgments. 

Sir,  you  have  imposed  a  hard  task  upon  me  ;  I  wish 
I  could  perform  it ;  for  though  every  truth  is  one,  yet  our 
sight  is  so  feeble,  that  we  cannot  always  come  to  it  direct- 
ly, but  by  many  inferences,  and  laying  of  things  together. 

But  I  think,  that  in  the  case  before  us,  there  is  such 
a  proof  as  you  require,  and  I  will  set  it  down  as  short 
and  plain  as  I  can. 

I.  First,  then,  I  suppose,  that  the  truth  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ  will  be  sufficiently  evinced,  if  the  matters 
of  fact  which  are  recorded  of  him  in  the  gospels  be 
true  ;  for  his  miracles,  if  true,  do  vouch  the  truth  of 
what  he  delivered. 

The  same  is  to  be  said  as  to  Moses.  If  he  brought 
the  children  of  Israel  through  the  Red  Sea  in  that  mi- 
raculous manner  which  is  related  in  Exodus,  and  did 
such  other  wonderful  things  as  are  there  told  of  him,  it 
must  necessarily  follow,  that  he  was  sent  from  God. 
These  being  the  strongest  proofs  we  can  desire,  and 
which  every  deist  will  confess  he  would  acquiesce  in, 
if  he  saw  them  with  his  eyes.  Therefore,  the  stress 
of  this  cause  will  depend  upon  the  proof  of  these  mat- 
ters of  fact. 

And  the  method  I  will  take,  is,  first,  to  lay  down 
such  rules  as  to  the  truth  of  matters  of  fact,  in  general, 
that,  where  they  all  meet,  such  matters  of  fact  cannot 
be  false.  And  then,  secondly,  to  show,  that  all  these 
rules  do  meet  in  the  matters  of  fact  of  Moses  and  of 
Christ  ;  and  that  they  do  not  meet  in  the  matters  of 
fact  of  Mahomet,  of  the  heathen  deities,  nor  can  pos- 
sibly meet  in  any  imposture  whatsoever. 
30 


350  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

The  rules  are  these  : 

1.  That  the  matter  of  fact  be  such,  as  that  men's 
outward  senses,  their  eyes  and  ears,  may  be  judges 
of  it. 

2:  That  it  be  done  publicly,  in  the  face  of  the  world. 

3.  That  not  only  public  monuments  be  kept  up  in 
memory  of  it,  but  some   outward   actions   to   be  per- 
formed. 

4.  That  such  monuments  and  such  actions  or  obser- 
vances be  instituted,  and  do  commence  from  the  time 
that  the  matter  of  fact  was  done. 

The  two  first  rules  make  it  impossible  for  any  such 
matter  of  fact  to  be  imposed  upon  men,  at  the  time 
when  such  matter  of  fact  was  said  to  be  done,  because 
every  man's  eyes  and  senses  would  contradict  it.  For 
example  ;  suppose  any  man  should  pretend,  that  yester- 
day he  divided  the  Thames,  in  presence  of  all  the  peo- 
ple of  London,  and  carried  the  whole  city,  men,  women, 
and  children,  over  to  Southwark  on  dry  land,  the  water 
standing  like  walls  on  both  sides  :  I  say,  it  is  morally 
impossible  that  he  could  persuade  the  people  of  London 
that  this  was  true,  when  every  man,  woman,  and  child 
could  contradict  him,  and  say,  that  this  was  a  notorious 
falsehood,  for  that  they  had  not  seen  the  Thames  so 
divided,  nor  had  gone  over  on  dry  land.  Therefore,  I 
take  it  for  granted  (and,  I  suppose,  with  the  allowance 
of  all  the  deists  in  the  world),  that  no  such  imposition 
could  be  put  upon  men,  at  the  time  when  such  public 
matter  of  fact  was  said  to  be  done. 

Therefore  it  only  remains,  that  such  matter  of  fact 
might  be  invented  some  time  after,  when  the  men  of 
that  generation,  wherein  the  thing  was  said  to  be  done, 
are  all  past  and  gone  ;  and  the  credulity  of  after  ages 
might  be  imposed  upon,  to  believe  that  things  were 
done  in  former  ages,  which  were  not. 

And  for  this  the  two  last  rules  secure  us,  as  much  as 
the  two  first  rules  in  the  former  case  ;  for  whenever 
such  a  matter  of  fact  came  to  be  invented,  if  not  only 
monuments  were  said  to  remain  of  it,  but  likewise  that 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  35 1 

public  actions  and  observances  were  constantly  used 
ever  since  the  matter  of  fact  was  said  to  be  done  ;  the 
deceit  must  be  detected,  by  no  such  monuments  appear- 
ing, and  by  the  experience  of  every  man,  woman,  and 
child,  who  must  know  that  no  such  actions  or  obser- 
vances were  ever  used  by  them.  For  example  ;  sup- 
pose I  should  now  invent  a  story  of  such  a  thing,  done 
a  thousand  years  ago,  I  might  perhaps  get  some  to  be- 
lieve it  ;  but  if  I  say,  that  not  only  such  a  thing  was 
done,  but  that  from  that  day  to  this,  every  man,  at  the 
age 'of  twelve  years,  had  a  joint  of  his  little  finger  cut 
off ;  and  that  every  man  in  the  nation  did  want  a  joint 
of  such  a  finger  ;  and  that  this  institution  was  said  to 
be  part  of  the  matter  of  fact  done  so  many  years  ago, 
and  vouched  as  a  proof  and  confirmation  of  it,  and  as 
having  descended  without  interruption,  and  been  con- 
stantly practised,  in  memory  of  such  matter  of  fact  all 
along,  from  the  time  that  such  matter  of  fact  was  done  :  I 
say,  it  is  impossible  I  should  be  believed  in  such  a  case, 
because  every  one  could  contradict  me,  as  to  the  mark 
of  cutting  off  the  joint  of  a  finger  ;  and  that  being  part 
of  my  original  matter  of  fact,  must  demonstrate  the 
whole  to  be  false. 

II.  Let  us  now  come  to  the  second  point,  to  show, 
that  the  matters  of  fact  of  Moses,  and  of  Christ,  have 
all  these  rules  or  marks  before  mentioned  ;  and  that 
neither  the  matters  of  fact  of  Mahomet,  or  what  is 
reported  of  the  heathen  deities,  have  the  like  ;  and  that 
no  imposture  can  have  them  all. 

As  to  Moses,  I  suppose  it  will  be  allowed  me,  that 
he  could  not  have  persuaded  six  hundred  thousand  men 
that  he  had  brought  them  out  of  Egypt,  through  the 
Red  Sea,  fed  them  forty  years  without  bread,  by  mi- 
raculous manna,  and  the  other  matters  of  fact  recorded 
in  his  books,  if  they  had  not  been  true.  Because  every 
man's  senses  that  were  then  alive,  must  have  contra- 
dicted it.  And,  therefore,  he  must  have  imposed  upon 
all  their  senses,  if  he  could  have  made  them  believe  it 
when  it  was  false,  and  no  such  things  done.  So  that 


352  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

here  are  the  first  and  second  of  the  abovementioned 
four  marks. 

For  the  same  reason,  it  was  equally  impossible  for 
him  to  have  made  them  receive  his  five  books  as  truth, 
and  not  to  have  rejected  them,  as  a  manifest  imposture, 
which  told  of  all  these  things  as  done  before  their  eyes, 
if  they  had  not  been  so  done.  See  how  positively  he 
speaks  to  them,  Deut.  xi.  2-8,  "And  know  ye  this 
day  ;  for  I  speak  not  with  your  children  which  have  not 
known,  and  which  have  not  seen  the  chastisement  of 
the  Lord  your  God,  his  greatness,  his  mighty  hand, 
and  his  stretched-out  arm,  and  his  miracles,  and  his 
acts,  which  he  did  in  the  midst  of  Egypt  unto  Pha- 
raoh the  king  of  Egypt,  and  unto  all  his  land  ;  and  what 
he  did  unto  the  army  of  Egypt,  unto  their  horses,  and 
to  their  chariots  ;  how  he  made  the  water  of  the  Red 
Sea  to  overflow  them  as  they  pursued  after  you,  and 
how  the  Lord  hath  destroyed  them  unto  this  day  ;  and 
what  he  did  unto  you  in  the  wilderness,  until  ye  came 
into  this  place  ;  and  what  he  did  unto  Dathan  and  Abi- 
ram,  the  sons  of  Eliab,  the  son  of  Reuben  :  how  the 
earth  opened  her  mouth,  and  swallowed  them  up,  and 
their  households,  and  their  tents,  and  all  the  substance 
that  was  in  their  possession,  in  the  midst  of  all  Israel. 
But  your  eyes  have  seen  all  the  great  acts  of  the  Lord, 
which  he  did,"  &c. 

From  hence  we  must  suppose  it  impossible,  that 
these  books  of  Moses  (if  an  imposture)  could  have  been 
invented  and  put  upon  the  people,  who  were  then  alive 
when  all  these  things  were  said  to  be  done. 

The  utmost,  therefore,  that  even  a  suppose  can  stretch 
to,  is,  that  these  books  were  wrote  in  some  age  after 
Moses,  and  put  out  in  his  name. 

And  to  this  I  say,  that  if  it  was  so,  it  was  impossible 
that  those  books  should  have  been  received  as  the  books 
of  Moses,  in  that  age  wherein  they  may  have  been  sup- 
posed to  have  been  first  invented.  Why  ?  Because 
they  speak  of  themselves  as  delivered  by  Moses,  and 
kept  in  the  ark  from  his  time.  "  And  it  came  to  pass, 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  353 

when  Moses  had  made  an  end  of  writing  the  words  of 
this  law  in  a  book  until  they  were  finished,  that  Moses 
commanded  the  Levites,  who  bare  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant of  the  Lord,  saying,  Take  this  book  of  the  law, 
and  put  it  in  the  side  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the 
Lord  your  God,  that  it  may  be  there  for  a  witness 
against  thee,"  Deut.  xxxi.  24-26.  And  there  was  a 
copy  of  this  book  to  be  left  likewise  with  the  king. 
"And  it  shall  be  when  he  sitteth  upon  the  throne  of  his 
kingdom,  that  he  shall  write  him  a  copy  of  this  law  in  a 
book,  out  of  that  which  is  before  the  priests  the  Le- 
vites :  and  it  shall  be  with  him,  and  he  shall  read  there- 
in all  the  days  of  his  life  :  that  he  may  learn  to  fear  the 
Lord  his  God,  to  keep  all  the  words  of  this  law_,  and 
these  statutes  to  do  them,"  Deut.  xvii.  18,  19. 

Here  you  see,  that  this  book  of  the  law  speaks  of 
itself,  not  only  as  a  history  or  relation  of  what  things 
were  then  done,  but  as  the  standing  and  municipal  law 
and  statutes  of  the  nation  of  the  Jews,  binding  the  king 
as  well  as  the  people. 

Now,  in  whatever  age  after  Moses  you  will  suppose 
this  book  to  have  been  forged,  it  was  impossible  it 
could  be  received  as  truth  ;  because  it  wras  not  then  to 
be  found,  either  in  the  ark,  or  with  the  king,  or  any- 
where else  ;  for  when  first  invented,  everybody  must 
know,  that  they  had  never  heard  of  it  before. 

And,  therefore,  they  could  less  believe  it  to  be  the 
book  of  their  statutes,  and  the  standing  law  of  the  land, 
which  they  had  all  along  received,  and  by  which  they 
had  been  governed. 

Could  any  man,  now  at  this  day,  invent  a  book  of 
statutes  or  acts  of  parliament  for  England,  and  make  it 
pass  upon  the  nation  as  the  only  book  of  statutes  that 
ever  they  had  known  ?  As  impossible  was  it  for  the 
books  of  Moses  (if  they  were  invented  in  any  age  after 
Moses)  to  have  been  received  for  what  they  declared 
themselves  to  be,  viz.  the  statutes  and  municipal  law 
of  the  nation  of  the  Jews  ;  and  to  have  persuaded  the 
Jews,  that  they  had  owned  and  acknowledged  these 
30* 


354  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNI  VERBALISM. 

books  all  along,  from  the  days  of  Moses  to  that  day 
in  which  they  were  first  invented ;  that  is,  that  they  had 
owned  them  before  they  had  ever  so  much  as  heard  of 
them.  Nay,  more,  the  whole  nation  must,  in  an  instant, 
forget  their  former  laws  and  government,  if  they  could 
receive  these  books  as  being  their  former  laws.  And 
they  could  not  otherwise  receive  them,  because  they 
vouched  themselves  so  to  be.  Let  me  ask  the  deist 
but  this  one  short  question,  Was  there  ever  a  book  of 
sham  laws,  which  were  not  the  laws  of  the  nation, 
palmed  upon  any  people,  since  the  world  began  ?  If 
not,  with  what  face  can  they  say  this  of  the  book  of 
laws  of  the  Jews  ?  Why  will  they  say  that  of  them, 
which  they  confess  impossible  in  any  nation,  or  among 
any  people  ? 

But  they  must  be  yet  more  unreasonable.  For  the 
books  of  Moses  have  a  further  demonstration  of  their 
truth,  than  even  other  law  books  have  ;  for  they  not 
only  contain  the  laws,  but  give  an  historical  account  of 
their  institution,  and  the  practice  of  them  from  that  time  ; 
as  of  the  passover,  Numbers  viii.  17,  18,  in  memory  of 
the  death  of  the  first-born  in  Egypt  ;  and  that  the  same 
day,  all  the  first-born  of  Israel,  both  of  man  and  beast, 
were,  by  a  perpetual  law  dedicated  to  God,  and  the 
Levites  taken  for  all  the  first-born  of  the  children  of 
Israel.  That  Aaron's  rod  which  budded  was  kept  in 
the  ark,  in  memory  of  the  rebellion  and  wonderful  de- 
struction of  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  and  for  the 
confirmation  of  the  priesthood  to  the  tribe  of  Levi.  As 
likewise  the  pot  of  manna,  in  memory  of  their  having 
been  fed  with  it  forty  years  in  the  wilderness.  That 
the  brazen  serpent  was  kept  (which  remained  to  the 
days  of  Hezekiah,  2  Kings  xviii.  4)  in  memory  of  that 
wonderful  deliverance,  by  only  looking  upon  it,  from 
the  biting  of  the  fiery  serpents,  Numb.  xxi.  9.  The 
feast  of  Pentecost,  in  memory  of  the  dreadful  appear- 
ance of  God  upon  mount  Horeb,  &c. 

And,  besides  these  remembrances  of  particular  ac- 
tions and  occurrences,  there  were  other  solemn  institu- 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  355 

lions  in  memory  of  their  deliverance  out  of  Egypt,  in 
the  general,  which  included  all  the  particulars,  as  of  the 
sabbath,  Deut.  v.  15  ;  their  daily  sacrifices,  and  yearly 
expiation,  their  new  moons,  and  several  feasts  and  fasts. 
So  that  there  were  yearly,  monthly,  weekly,  daily  re- 
membrances and  recognitions  of  these  things. 

And  not  only  so,  but  the  books  of  the  same  Moses 
tell  us,  that  a  particular  tribe  [of  Levi]  was  appointed 
and  consecrated  by  God  as  his  priests  ;  by  whose 
hands,  and  none  other,  the  sacrifices  of  the  people  were 
to  be  offered,  and  these  solemn  institutions  to  be  cele- 
brated. That  it  was  death  for  any  other  to  approach 
the  altar.  That  their  high-priest  wore  a  glorious  mitre 
and  magnificent  robes  of  God's  own  contrivance,  with 
the  miraculous  Urim  and  Thummim  in  his  breastplate, 
whence  the  divine  responses  were  given.  That,  at  his 
word)  the  king  and  all  the  people  were  to  go  out  and  to 
come  in,  Numb,  xxvii.  21.  That  these  Levites  were 
likewise  the  chief  judges,  even  in  all  civil  causes,  and 
that  it  was  death  to  resist  their  sentence,  Deut.  xvii. 
8—13  ;  1  Chron.  xxiii.  4.  Now,  whenever  it  can  be 
supposed,  that  these  books  of  Moses  were  forged,  in 
some  ages  after  Moses,  it  is  impossible  they  could  have 
been  received  as  true,  unless  the  forgers  could  have 
made  the  whole  nation  believe,  that  they  had  received 
these  books  from  their  fathers,  had  been  instructed  in 
them  when  they  were  children,  and  had  taught  them  to 
their  children  ;  moreover,  that  they  had  all  been  cir- 
cumcised, and  did  circumcise  their  children,  in  pursu- 
ance to  what  was  commanded  in  these  books  ;  that  they 
had  observed  the  yearly  passover,  the  weekly  sabbath, 
the  new  moons,  and  all  these  several  feasts,  fasts,  and 
ceremonies,*  commanded  in  these  books  ;  that  they  had 
never  eaten  any  swine's  flesh,  or  other  meats  prohibited 
in  these  books  ;  that  they  had  a  magnificent  tabernacle, 
with  a  visible  priesthood  to  administer  in  it,  which  was 
confined  to  the  tribe  of  Levi ;  over  whom  was  placed  a 
glorious  high-priest,  clothed  with  great  and  mighty  pre- 
rogative, whose  death  only  could  deliver  those  that 


356  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

were  fled  to  the  cities  of  refuge  ;  and  that  these  priests 
were  their  ordinary  judges,  even  in  civil  matters,  Numb. 
xxxv.  25,  28.  I  say,  was  it  possible  to  have  persuaded 
a  whole  nation  of  men,  that  they  had  known  and  prac- 
tised all  these  things,  if  they  had  not  done  it  ?  or, 
secondly,  to  have  received  a  book  for  truth,  which  said 
they  had  practised  them,  and  appealed  to  that  practice  ; 
so  that  here  are  the  third  and  fourth  of  the  marks  above 
mentioned. 

But  now  let  us  descend  to  the  utmost  degree  of  sup- 
position, viz.  that  these  things  were  practised  before 
these  books  of  Moses  were  forged  ;  and  that  these 
books  did  only  impose  upon  the  nation,  in  making  them 
believe,  that  they  had  kept  these  observances  in  mem- 
ory of  such  and  such  things,  as  were  inserted  in  these 
books. 

Well,  then,  let  us  proceed  upon  this  supposition  (how- 
ever groundless) ,  and  now,  will  not  the  same  impossi- 
bilities occur,  as  in  the  former  case  ?  For,  first,  this 
must  suppose,  that  the  Jews  kept  all  these  observances 
in  memory  of  nothing,  or  without  knowing  any  thing  of 
their  original,  or  the  reason  why  they  kept  them. 
Whereas,  these  very  observances  did  express  the 
ground  and  reason  of  their  being  kept,  as  the  passover, 
in  memory  of  God's  passing  over  the  children  of  the 
Israelites,  in  that  night  wherein  he  slew  all  the  first-born 
of  Egypt,  and  so  of  the  rest. 

But  secondly,  let  us  suppose,  contrary  both  to  rea- 
son and  matter  of  fact,  that  the  Jews  did  not  know  any 
reason  at  all  why  they  kept  these  observances  ;  yet  was 
it  possible  to  put  it  upon  them,  that  they  had  kept  these 
observances  in  memory  of  what  they  had  never  heard 
of  before  that  day,  whensoever  you  will  suppose  that 
these  books  of  Moses  were  first  forged  ?  For  example, 
suppose  I  should  now  forge  some  romantic  story  of 
strange  things  done  a  thousand  years  ago,  and,  in  con- 
firmation of  this,  should  endeavour  to  persuade  the 
Christian  world,  that  they  had  all  along,  from  that  day 
to  this,  kept  the  first  day  of  the  week  in  memory  of 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  357 

such  a  hero,  an  Apollonius,  a  Barcosbas,  or  a  Maho- 
met ;  and  had  all  been  baptized  in  his  name  ;  and 
swore  by  his  name,  and  upon  that  very  book  (which  I 
had  then  forged,  and  which  they  never  saw  before),  in 
their  public  judicatures  ;  that  this  book  was  their  gospel 
and  law,  which  they  had  ever  since  that  time,  these 
thousand  years  past,  universally  received  and  owned, 
and  none  other.  I  would  ask  any  deist,  whether  he 
thinks  it  possible,  that  such  a  cheat  could  pass,  or  such 
a  legend  be  received  as  the  gospel  of  Christians  ;  and 
that  they  could  be  made  to  believe,  that  they  never  had 
any  other  gospel  ?  The  same  reason  is  as  to  the  books 
of  Moses,  and  must  be  as  to  every  matter  of  fact,  which 
has  all  the  four  marks  before  mentioned  ;  and  these 
marks  secure  any  such  matter  of  fact  as  much  from  be- 
ing invented  and  imposed  in  any  after  ages,  as  at  the 
time  when  such  matters  of  fact  were  said  to  be  done. 

Let  me  give  one  very  familiar  example  more  in  this 
case.  There  is  the  Stonehenge  in  Salisbury  Plain  ; 
everybody  knows  it,  and  yet  none  knows  the  reason 
why  those  great  stones  were  set  there,  or  by  whom,  or 
in  memory  of  what. 

Now  suppose  I  should  write  a  book  to-morrow,  and 
tell  there,  that  these  stones  were  set  up  by  Hercules, 
Polyphemus,  or  Garagantua,  in  memory  of  such  and 
such  of  their  actions.  And  for  a  further  confirmation 
of  this,  should  say  in  this  book,  that  it  was  wrote  at  the 
time  when  such  actions  were  done,  and  by  the  very 
actors  themselves,  or  eyewitnesses.  And  that  this 
book  had  been  received  as  truth,  and  quoted  by  authors 
of  the  greatest  reputation  in  all  ages  since.  Moreover,' 
that  this  book  was  well  known  in  England,  and  enjoined 
by  act  of  parliament  to  be  taught  our  children,  and  that 
we  did  teach  it  to  our  children,  and  had  been  taught  it 
ourselves  when  we  were  children.  I  ask  any  deist, 
whether  he  thinks  this  could  pass  upon  England  ?  And 
whether,  if  I  or  any  other  should  insist  upon  it,  we 
should  not,  instead  of  being  believed,  be  sent  to  Bed- 
lam ? 


358  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

Now  let  us  compare  this  with  the  Stonehenge,  as  I 
may  call  it,  or  twelve  great  stones  set  up  at  Gilgal, 
which  is  told  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Joshua.  It  is 
there  said,  verse  6,  that  the  reason  why  they  were  set 
up  was,  that  when  their  children,  in  after  ages,  should 
ask  the  meaning  of  it,  it  should  be  told  them. 

And  the  thing  in  memory  of  which  they  were  set  up, 
was  such  as  could  not  possibly  be  imposed  upon  that 
nation,  at  that  time  when  it  was  said  to  be  done  ;  it  was 
as  wonderful  and  miraculous  as  their  passage  through 
the  Red  Sea. 

And  withal,  free  from  a  very  poor  objection,  which 
the  deists  have  advanced  against  that  miracle  of  the 
Red  Sea  ;  thinking  to  solve  it  by  a  spring  tide,  with 
the  concurrence  of  a  strong  wind,  happening  at  the 
same  time,  which  left  the  sand  so  dry,  as  that  the  Isra- 
elites, being  all  foot,  might  pass  through  the  oozy  places 
and  holes,  which  it  must  be  supposed  the  sea  left  be- 
hind it ;  but  that  the  Egyptians,  being  all  horse  and 
chariots,  stuck  in  those  holes,  and  were  entangled,  so  as 
that  they  could  not  march  so  fast  as  the  Israelites ;  and 
that  this  was  all  the  meaning  of  its  being  said,  that  God 
took  off  their  [the  Egyptians]  chariot  wheels,  that  they 
drove  them  heavily.  So  that  they  would  make  nothing 
extraordinary,  at  least  not  miraculous,  in  all  this  action. 

This  is  advanced  in  Le  Clerc's  Dissertations  upon 
Genesis,  lately  printed  ia  Holland  ;  and  that  part,  with 
others  of  the  like  tendency,  endeavouring  to  resolve  oth- 
er miracles,  as  that  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  &c.,  into 
the  mere  natural  causes,  are  put  into  English  by  the  well 
known  T.  Brown,  for  the  edification  of  the  deists  in 
England. 

But  these  gentlemen  have  forgotten,  that  the  Israel- 
ites had  great  herds  of  many  thousand  cattle  with  them, 
which  would  be  apter  to  stray,  and  fall  into  those  holes 
and  oozy  places  in  the  sand,  than  horses  with  riders, 
who  might  direct  them. 

But  such  precarious  and  silly  supposes  are  not  worth 
the  answering.  If  there  had  been  no  more  in  this 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  359 

passage  through  the  Red  sea,  than  that  of  a  spring  tide, 
&c.,  it  had  been  impossible  for  Moses  to  have  made 
the  Israelites  believe  the  relation  given  of  it  in  Exodus 
with  so  many  particulars,  which  themselves  saw  to  be 
true. 

And  all  those  scriptures  which  magnify  this  action, 
and  appeal  to  it  as  a  full  demonstration  of  the  mirac- 
ulous power  of  God,  must  be  reputed  as  romance  or 
legend. 

I  say  this  for  the  sake  of  some  Christians,  who  think 
it  no  prejudice  to  the  truth  of  the  Holy  Bible,  but  rather 
an  advantage,  as  rendering  it  more  easy  to  be  believed, 
if  they  can  solve  whatever  seems  miraculous  in  it,  by 
the  power  of  second  causes  ;  and  so  to  make  all,  as  they 
speak,  natural  and  easy.  Wherein,  if  they  could  pre- 
vail, the  natural  and  easy  result  would  be,  not  to  be- 
lieve one  word  in  all  those  sacred  oracles.  For,  if 
things  be  not  as  they  are  told  in  any  relation,  that  rela- 
tion must  be  false.  And,  if  false  in  part,  we  cannot 
trust  to  it,  either  in  whole  or  in  part. 

Here  are  to  be  excepted,  mistranslations,  and  errors, 
either  in  copy  or  in  press.  But,  where  there  is  no 
room  for  supposing  of  these,  as  where  all  copies  do 
agree,  there  we  must  either  receive  all,  or  reject  all. 
I  mean,  in  any  book  that  pretends  to  be  written  from 
the  mouth  of  God.  For  in  other  common  histories, 
we  may  believe  part  and  reject  part,  as  we  see  cause. 

But  to  return.  The  passage  of  the  Israelites  over 
Jordan,  in  memory  of  which  those  stones  at  Gilgal 
were  set  up,  is  free  from  all  those  little  carpings  before 
mentioned,  that  are  made  as  to  the  passage  through  the 
Red  Sea.  For  notice  was  given  to  the  Israelites  the 
day  before,  of  this  great  miracle  to  be  done.  Josh.  iii. 
5.  It  was  done  at  noonday,  before  the  whole  nation. 
And  when  the  waters  of  Jordan  were  divided,  it  was 
not  at  any  low  ebb,  but  at  the  time  when  that  river 
overflowed  all  its  banks,  ver.  15.  And  it  was  done, 
not  by  winds,  or  in  length  of  time,  which  winds  must 
take  to  do  it  ;  but  all  on  the  sudden,  as  soon  as  the 


360  PLAI1N  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

feet  of  the  priests  that  bare  the  ark  were  dipped  in  the 
brim  of  the  water,  then  the  waters  which  came  down 
from  above  stood  and  rose  up  upon  a  heap,  very  far  from 
the  city  of  Adam,  that  is  besides  Zaretan  ;  and  those 
that  came  down  toward  the  sea  of  the  plain,  even  the 
salt  sea,  failed,  and  were  cut  off ;  and  the  people  passed 
over  right  against  Jericho.  The  priests  stood  in  the 
midst  of  Jordan,  till  all  the  armies  of  Israel  had  passed 
over.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  priests  that 
bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  were  come 
up,  out  of  the  midst  of  Jordan,  and  the  soles  of  the 
priests'  feet  were  lift  up  upon  the  dry  land,  that  the  waters 
of  Jordan  returned  unto  their  place,  and  flowed  over  all 
his  banks,  as  they  did  before.  And  the  people  came  up 
out  of  Jordan,  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  first  month,  and 
encamped  in  Gilgal,  on  the  east  border  of  Jericho.  And 
those  twelve  stones,  which  they  took  out  of  Jordan, 
did  Joshua  pitch  in  Gilgal.  And  he  spake  unto  the 
children  of  Israel,  saying,  When  your  children  shall  ask 
their  fathers,  in  time  to  come,  saying,  what  mean  these 
stones  ?  then  shall  ye  let  your  children  know,  saying,  Is- 
rael came  over  this  Jordan  on  dry  land.  For  the  Lord 
your  God  dried  up  the  waters  of  Jordan  from  before 
you,  until  ye  were  passed  over  ;  as  the  Lord  your  God 
did  to  the  Red  Sea,  which  he  dried  up  from  before  us, 
until  we  were  gone  over.  That  all  the  people  of  the 
earth  might  known  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  that  it  is 
mighty  ;  that  ye  might  fear  the  Lord  your  God  forever, 
chap.  iv.  from  ver.  18. 

If  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  had  been  only  taking 
advantage  of  a  spring  tide,  or  the  like,  how  would  this 
teach  all  the  people  of  the  earth,  that  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  was  mighty  ?  How  would  a  thing  no  more  re- 
markable, have  been  taken  notice  of  through  all  the 
world  ?  How  would  it  have  taught  Israel  to  fear  the 
Lord,  when  they  must  know,  that,  notwithstanding  all 
these  big  words,  there  was  so  little  in  it  ?  How  could 
they  have  believed,  or  received  a  book,  as  truth,  which 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DESITS.  361 

they  knew,  told  the  matter  so  far  otherwise  from  what 


it  was 


But,  as  I  said,  this  passage  over  Jordan,  which  is 
here  compared  to  that  of  the  Red  Sea,  is  free  from  those 
cavils,  that  are  made  as  to  that  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  is 
a  further  attestation  to  it,  being  said  to  be  done  in  the 
same  manner  as  was  that  of  the  Red  Sea. 

Now,  to  form  our  argument,  let  us  suppose,  that  there 
never  was  any  such  thing  as  that  passage  over  Jordan. 
That  these  stones  at  Gilgal  were  set  up  upon  some  other 
occasion,  in  some  after  age.  And  then,  that  some  de- 
signing man  invented  this  book  of  Joshua,  and  said, 
that  it  was  written  by  Joshua,  at  that  time.  And  gave 
this  stonage  at  Gilgal  for  a  testimony  of  the  truth  of  it. 
Would  not  everybody  say  to  him,  We  know  the  stonage 
at  Gilgal  ;  but  we  never  heard  before  of  this  reason  for 
it  ?  Nor  of  this  book  of  Joshua  ?  Where  has  it  been  all 
this  while  ?  And  where  and  how  came  you,  after  so  many 
ages,  to  find  it  ?  Besides,  this  book  tells  us,  that  this  pas- 
sage over  Jordan  was  ordained  to  be  taught  our  children, 
from  age  to  age  ;  and,  therefore,  that  they  were  always 
to  be  instructed  in  the  meaning  of  that  stonage  at  Gilgal 
as  a  memorial  of  it.  But  we  were  never  taught  it  when 
we  were  children  ;  nor  did  ever  teach  our  children  any 
such  thing.  And  it  is  not  likely,  that  it  could  have 
been  forgotten,  while  so  remarkable  a  stonage  did  con- 
tinue, which  was  set  up  for  that,  and  no  other  end  ! 

And  if,  for  the  reason  before  given,  no  such  imposi- 
tion could  be  put  upon  us,  as  to  the  stonage  at  Salisbury 
Plain,  how  much  less  could  it  be  as  to  the  stonage  at 
Gilgal  ! 

And  if,  where  we  know  not  the  reason  of  a  bare, 
naked  monument,  such  a  sham  reason  cannot  be  im- 
posed ;  how  much  more  is  it  impossible  to  impose  upon 
us,  in  actions  and  observances,  which  we  celebrate  in 
memory  of  particular  passages  !  How  impossible  to 
make  us  forget  those  passages  which  we  daily  commem- 
orate ;  and  persuade  us,  that  we  had  always  kept  such  in- 
31 


362  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

stitutions  in  memory  of  what  we  never  heard  of  before  ; 
that  is,  that  we  knew  it,  before  we  knew  it. 

And  if  we  find  it  thus  impossible  for  an  imposition  to 
be  put  upon  us,  even  in  some  things,  which  have  not  all 
the  four  marks  before  mentioned  ;  how  much  more  im- 
possible is  it,  that  any  deceit  should  be  in  that  thing, 
where  all  the  four  marks  do  meet ! 

This  has  been  shown  in  the  first  place,  as  to  the  mat- 
ters of  fact  of  Moses. 

Therefore,  I  come  now,  secondly,  to  show,  that,  as 
in  the  matters  of  fact  of  Moses,  so  likewise,  all  these  four 
marks  do  meet  in  the  matters  of  fact,  which  are  recorded 
in  the  gospel  of  our  blessed  Saviour.  And  my  work 
herein  will  be  the  shorter,  because  all  that  is  said  be- 
fore, of  Moses  and  his  books,  is  every  way  as  applicable 
to  Christ  and  his  Gospel.  His  works  and  miracles  are 
there  said  to  be  done  publicly,  in  the  face  of  the  world, 
as  he  argued  to  his  accusers  ;  "  T  spake  openly  to  the 
world,  and  in  secret  have  I  said  nothing."  John  xviii. 
20.  It  is  told,  Acts  ii.  41,  that  three  thousand  at  one 
time,  chap.  iv.  4,  that  above  five  thousand  at  another 
time,  were  converted,  upon  conviction  of  what  them- 
selves had  seen,  what  had  been  done  publicly  before 
their  eyes,  wherein  it  was  impossible  to  have  imposed 
upon  them.  Therefore,  here  were  the  two  first  of  the 
rules  before  mentioned. 

Then  for  the  two  second  ;  Baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  were  instituted  as  perpetual  memorials  of  these 
things  ;  and  they  were  not  instituted  in  after  ages,  but 
at  the  very  time  when  these  things  were  said  to  be 
done  ;  and  have  been  observed  without  interruption,  in 
all  ages  through  the  whole  Christian  world,  down  all  the 
way  from  that  time  to  this.  And  Christ  himself  did 
ordain  apostles,  and  other  ministers  of  his  Gospel,  to 
preach,  and  administer  these  sacraments  ;  and  to 
govern  his  church;  and,  that  u always,  even  unto 
the  end  of  the  world."  Matt,  xxviii.  20.  Accord- 
ingly, they  have  continued,  by  regular  succession,  to 
this  day  ;  and,  no  doubt,  ever  shall,  while  the  earth 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  363 

shall  last.  So  that  the  Christian  clergy  are  as  noto- 
rious a  matter  of  fact,  as  the  tribe  of  Levi  among  the 
Jews.  And  the  Gospel  is  as  much  a  law  to  the  Chris- 
tians, as  the  book  of  Moses  to  the  Jews.  And  it  be- 
ing part  of  the  matter  of  fact  related  in  the  Gospel,  that 
such  an  order  of  men  were  appointed  by  Christ,  and  to 
continue  to  the  end  of  the  world  ;  consequently,  if  the 
Gospel  was  a  fiction,  and  invented  (as  it  must  be)  in 
some  ages  after  Christ ;  then,  at  that  time,  when  it  was 
first  invented,  there  could  be  no  such  order  of  clergy,  as 
derived  themselves  from  the  institution  of  Christ  ; 
which  must  give  the  lie  to  the  Gospel,  and  demonstrate 
the  whole  to  be  false.  And  the  matters  of  fact  of 
Christ  being  pressed  to  be  true,  no  otherwise  than  as 
there  was,  at  that  time,  (whenever  the  deists  will  sup- 
pose the  Gospel  to  be  forged,)  not  only  public  sacra- 
ments of  Christ's  institution,  but  an  order  of  clergy, 
likewise  of  his  appointment  to  administer  them  ;  and  it 
being  impossible  there  could  be  any  such  things  before 
they  were  invented,  it  is  as  impossible  that  they  should 
be  received  when  invented.  And,  therefore,  by  what 
was  said  above,  it  was  as  impossible  to  have  imposed 
upon  mankind  in  this  matter,  by  inventing  of  it  in  after 
ages,  as  at  the  time  when  those  things  were  said  to  be 
done. 

The  matters  of  fact  of  Mahomet,  or  what  is  fabled 
of  the  deities,  do  all  want  some  of  the  aforesaid  four 
rules,  whereby  the  certainty  of  matters  of  fact  is  demon- 
strated. First,  Mahomet  pretended  to  no  miracles,  as 
he  tells  us  in  his  Alcoran,  c.  6,  &c.,  and  those  which  are 
commonly  told  of  him  pass  among  the  Mahometans 
themselves  but  as  legendary  fables  ;  and,  as  such,  are 
rejected  by  the  wise  and  learned  among  them  ;  as  the 
legends  of  their  saints  are  in  the  church  of  Rome.  See 
Dr.  Prideaux's  "  Life  of  Mahomet,"  p.  34. 

But,  in  the  next  place,  those  which  are  told  of  him, 
do  all  want  the  two  first  rules  before  mentioned.  For 
his  pretended  converse  with  the  moon  ;  his  Mersa,  or 
night  journey  from  Mecca  to  Jerusalem,  and  thence 


364  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

to  heaven,  &c.,  were  not  performed  before  anybody. 
We  have  only  his  own  word  for  them.  And  they  are 
as  groundless  as  the  delusions  of  Fox,  or  Muggleton, 
among  ourselves.  The  same  is  to  be  said  (in  the  sec- 
ond place)  of  the  fables  of  the  heathen  gods,  of  Mer- 
cury's stealing  sheep,  Jupiter's  turning  himself  into  a 
bull,  and  the  like  ;  besides  the  folly  and  unworthiness 
of  such  senseless,  pretended  miracles.  And,  more- 
over, the  wise  among  the  heathen  did  reckon  no  other- 
wise of  these  but  as  fables,  which  had  a  mythology  or 
mystical  meaning  in  them,  of  which,  several  of  them 
have  given  us  the  rationale,  or  explication.  And  it  is 
plain  enough,  that  Ovid  meant  no  other  by  all  his  Met- 
amorphoses. 

It  is  true,  the  heathen  deities  had  their  priests  ;  they 
had  likewise  feasts,  games,  and  other  public  institutions 
in  memory  of  them.  But  all  these  want  the  fourth 
mark,  viz.  That  such  priesthood  and  institutions  should 
commence  from  the  time  that  such  things  as  they  com- 
memorate were  said  to  be  done  ;  otherwise  they  cannot 
secure  after  ages  from  the  imposture,  by  detecting  it,  at 
the  time  when  first  invented,  as  hath  been  argued  be- 
fore. But  the  Bacchanalia,  and  other  heathen  feasts, 
were  instituted  many  ages  after  what  was  reported  of 
these  gods  was  said  to  be  done,  and,  therefore,  can  be  no 
proof  of  them.  And  the  priests  of  Bacchus,  Apollo, 
&c.,  were  not  ordained  by  these  supposed  gods  ;  but 
were  appointed  by  others,  in  after  ages,  only  in  honor 
to  them.  And,  therefore,  these  orders  of  priests  are 
no  evidence*  to  the  truth  of  the  matters  of  fact,  which 
are  reported  of  their  gods. 

III.  Now,  to  apply  what  has  been  said,  you  may 
challenge  all  the  deists  in  the  world  to  show  any  action 
that  is  fabulous,  which  has  all  the  four  rules,  or  marks, 
before  mentioned.  No,  it  is  impossible.  And  (to  re- 
sume a  little  what  is  spoken  to  before)  the  histories  of 
Exodus  and  the  Gospel  could  never  have  been  received, 
if  they  had  not  been  true  ;  because  the  institution  of  the 
priesthood  of  Levi,  and  of  Christ ;  of  the  sabbath,  the 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  365 

passover,  of  circumcision,  of  baptism,  and  the  Lord's 
Supper,  &c.,  are  there  related,  as  descending  all  the 
way  down  from  those  times  without  interruption.  And 
it  is  full  as  impossible  to  persuade  men,  that  they  had 
been  circumcised,  baptized,  had  circumcised  -or  bap- 
tized their  children,  celebrated  passovers,  sabbaths,  sa- 
craments, &c.,  under  the  government  and  administra- 
tion of  a  certain  order  of  priests,  if  they  had  done  none 
of  these  things,  as  to  make  them  believe,  that  they  had 
gone  through  sea  upon  dry  land,  seen  the  dead  raised, 
&c.  And,  without  believing  of  these,  it  was  impos- 
sible, that  either  the  law,  or  the  gospel,  could  have  been 
received. 

And  the  truth  of  the  matters  of  fact  of  Exodus  and 
the  Gospel,  being  no  otherwise  pressed  upon  men  than 
as  they  have  practised  such  public  institutions,  it  is  ap- 
pealing to  the  senses  of  mankind  for  the  truth  of  them ; 
and  makes  it  impossible  for  any  to  have  invented  such 
stories  in  after  ages,  without  a  palpable  detection  of  the 
cheat,  when  first  invented  ;  as  impossible  as  to  have 
imposed  upon  the  senses  of  mankind  at  the  time  when 
such  public  matters  of  fact  were  said  to  be  done. 

IV.  I  do  not  say,  that  every  thing  which  wants 
these  four  marks  is  false  ;  but,  that  nothing  can  be  false 
which  has  them  all. 

I  have  no  manner  of  doubt,  that  there  was  such  a 
man  as  Julius  Cesar  ;  that  he  fought  at  Pharsalia,  was 
killed  in  the  senate-house  ;  and  many  other  matters  of 
fact  of  ancient  times,  though  we  keep  no  public  observ- 
ances in  memory  of  them. 

But  this  shows,  that  the  matters  of  fact  of  Moses  and 
Christ,  have  come  down  to  us  better  guarded  than  any 
other  matters  of  fact,  how  true  soever. 

And  yet  our  deists,  who  would  laugh  any  man  out 
of  the  world,  as  an  irrational  brute,  that  should  offer  to 
deny  Cesar  or  Alexander,  Homer  or  Virgil,  their  pub- 
lic works  and  actions,  do,  at  the  same  time,  value  them 
selves  as  the  only  men  of  wit  and  sense,  of  free,  gen- 
erous, and  unbiassed  judgments,  for  ridiculing  the 
31* 


366  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

histories  of  Moses  and  Christ,  that  are  infinitely  better 
attested,  and  guarded  with  infallible  marks,  which  the 
others  want. 

V.  Besides    that,  the   importance  of    the  subject 
would  oblige  all  men  to  inquire  more  narrowly  into  the 
one  than  the  other  :  for  what  consequence  is  it  to  me, 
or  to  the  world,  whether   there    was    such  a  man   as 
Cesar ;  whether  he  beat  or  was  beaten  at  Pharsalia  ; 
whether    Homer    or   Virgil    wrote    such    books  ;    and 
whether  what  is  related  in  the  Iliads  or  JEniads  be  true 
or  false  ?     It  was   not   two  pence  up  or  down  to  any 
man   in  the    world.     And,   therefore,   it  is  worth   no 
man's    while  to   inquire   into  it,    either  to    oppose  or 
justify  the  truth  of  these  relations. 

But  our  very  souls  and  bodies,  both  this  life  and  eter- 
^nity,  are  concerned  in  the  truth  of  what  is  related  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  and,  therefore,  men  would  be 
more  inquisitive  to  search  into  the  truth  of  these,  than 
of  any  other  matters  of  fact ;  examine  and  sift  them 
narrowly  ;  and  find  out  the  deceit,  if  any  such  could  be 
found  :  for  it  concerned  them  nearly,  and  was  of  the 
last  importance  to  them. 

How  unreasonable,  then,  is  it,  to  reject  these  matters 
of  fact  so  sifted,  so  examined,  and  so  attested,  as  no 
other  matters  of  fact  in  the  world  ever  were  ;  and  yet, 
to  think  it  the  most  highly  unreasonable,  even  to  mad- 
ness, to  deny  other  matters  of  fact,  which  have  not  the 
thousandth  part  of  their  evidence,  and  are  of  no  conse- 
quence at  all  to  us,  whether  true  or  false  ! 

VI.  There  are  several   other  topics,  from  whence 
the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion  is  evinced  to  all  who 
judge  by  reason,  and  give  themselves  leave  to  consider. 
As  the  improbability  that  ten  or  twelve  poor  illiterate 
fishermen  should  form  a  design  of  converting  the  whole 
world  to  believe  their  delusions  ;  and  the  impossibility 
of  their  effecting  it,  without  force  of  arms,  learning, 
oratory,  or  any  one  visible  thing  that  could  recommend 
them  !     And  to  impose  a  doctrine  quite  opposite  to  the 
lusts 'and  pleasures  of  men,  and  all  worldly  advantages, 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  367 

or  enjoyments  !  And  this  in  an  age  of  so  great  learn- 
ing and  sagacity,  as  that  wherein  the  Gospel  was  first 
preached  !  That  these  apostles  should  not  only  under- 
go all  the  scorn  and  contempt,  but  the  severest  persecu- 
tions, and  most  cruel  deaths  that  could  be  inflicted,  in 
attestation  to  what  themselves  knew  to  be  a  mere  deceit 
and  forgery  of  their  own  contriving  !  Some  have  suf- 
fered for  errors  which  they  thought  to  be  truth  ;  but 
never  any  for  what  themselves  knew  to  be  lies.  And 
the  apostles  mJst  know  what  they  taught  to  be  lies,  if  it 
was  so,  because  they  spoke  of  those  things  which  they 
said  they  had  both  seen  and  heard,  had  looked  upon, 
and  handled  with  their  hands,  £c.  Acts  iv.  20  ; 
1  John  i.  1. 

Neither  can  it  be  said  that  they,  perhaps,  might  have 
proposed  some  temporal  advantages  to  themselves,  but 
missed  of  them,  and  met  with  sufferings  instead  of 
them  :  for,  if  it  had  been  so,  it  is  more  probable,  that 
when  they  saw  their  disappointment,  they  would  have 
discovered  their  conspiracy ;  especially  when  they 
might  not  only  have  saved  their  lives,  but  got  great 
rewards  for  doing  it,  than  that  no  one  of  them  should 
ever  have  been  brought  to  do  this. 

But  this  is  not  all ;  for  they  tell  us  that  their  Master 
bid  them  expect  nothing  but  sufferings  in  this  world. 
This  is  the  tenure  of  all  that  Gospel  which  they  taught. 
And  they  told  the  same  to  all  whom  they  converted. 
So  that  here  was  no  disappointment. 

For,  all  that  were  converted  by  them,  were  convert- 
ed upon  the  certain  expectation  of  sufferings,  and  bid- 
den prepare  for  it.  Christ  commanded  his  disciples  to 
take  up  their  cross  daily  and  follow  him  ;  and  told 
them,  that  in  the  world  they  should  have  tribulation  ; 
that  whoever  did  not  forsake  father,  mother,  wife,  chil- 
dren, lands,  and  their  very  lives,  could  not  be  his  dis- 
ciples ;  that  he,  who  sought  to  save  his  life  in  this 
world,  should  lose  it. 

Now,  that  this  despised  doctrine  of  the  cross  should 
prevail  so  universally  against  the  allurements  of  flesh 


368  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

and  blood,  and  all  the  blandishments  of  this  world  ; 
against  the  rage  and  persecution  of  all  the  kings  and 
powers  of  the  earth,  must  show  its  original  to  be  di- 
vine, and  its  protector  almighty.  What  is  it  else,  could 
conquer  without  arms,  persuade  without  rhetoric,  over- 
come enemies,  disarm  tyrants,  and  subdue  empires 
without  opposition  ! 

VII.  We  may  add  to  all  this,  the  testimonies  of  the 
most   bitter   enemies   and  persecutors  of  Christianity, 
both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  to  the  truth  of*  the  matter  of 
fact  of  Christ,  such  as  Josephus  and  Tacitus  ;  of  which 
the  first  flourished  about  forty  years  after  the  death  of 
Christ,  and  the  other  about  seventy  years  after,  so  that 
they  were   capable  of   examining   into   the    truth,    and 
wanted  not  prejudice  and  malice   sufficient  to  have  in- 
clied  them  to  deny  the  matter  of  fact  itself  of  Christ ; 
but  their  confessing  to  it,  as  likewise  Lucian,   Celsus, 
Porphyry,  and  Julian  the  apostate  ;  the  Mahometans 
since,  and  all  other  enemies  of  Christianity  that  have 
arisen  in  the  world,  is  an  undeniable  attestation  to  the 
truth  of  the  matter  of  fact. 

VIII.  But  there  is  another  argument  more  strong 
and  convincing   than   even  this  matter  of   fact ;  more 
than    the    certainty  of  what  I  see   with  my  eyes  ;  and 
which  the  apostle  Peter  called  a  more  sure  word  ;   that 
is,  proof,  that  what  he  saw  and  heard  upon  the  holy 
mount,  when  our  blessed  Saviour  was  transfigured  be- 
fore  him  and  two  other  of  the  apostles :  for,   having 
repeated  that  passage  as  a  proof  of  that  whereof  they 
were  eyewitnesses,  and  heard  the  voice  from  heaven 
giving  attestation  to  our  Lord  Christ,  2  Pet.  i.  16-18. 
He  says,  verse  19,  We  have  also  a  more  sure  word  of 
prophecy  for  the  proof  of  this  Jesus  being  the  Messiah ; 
that  is,  the  prophecies  which  had  gone  before  of  him, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world  ;  and  all  exactly  ful- 
filled in  him. 

Men  may  dispute  an  imposition  or  delusion  upon  our 
outward  senses  ;  but  how  can  that  be  false  that  has  been 
so  long,  even  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  so 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  369 

often  by  all  the  prophets,  in  several  ages,  foretold  ;  how 
can  this  be  an  imposition,  or  a  forgery  ? 

This  is  particularly  insisted  on  in  the  u  Method  with 
the  Jews, "and  even  the  deists  must  confess,  that  that 
book  we  call  the  Old  Testament,  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  Jews  long  before  our  Saviour  came  into  the  world. 
And  if  they  will  be  at  the  pains  to  compare  the  proph- 
ecies that  are  there  of  the  Messiah,  with  the  fulfilling 
of  them,  as  to  time,  place,  and  all  other  circumstances, 
in  the  person,  birth,  life,  death,  resurrection,  and  ascen- 
sion of  our  blessed  Saviour,  they  will  find  this  proof  what 
our  apostle  here  calls  it,  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place, 
until  the  day  dawn,  and  the  day-star  arise  in  your  hearts  ; 
which  God  grant.  Here  is  no  possibility  of  deceit  or 
imposture. 

Old  prophecies  (and  all  these  so  agreeing)  could  not 
have  been  contrived  to  countenance  a  new  cheat  :  and 
nothing  could  be  a  cheat  that  could  fulfil  all  these. 

For  this,  therefore,  I  refer  the  deists  to  the  "  Method 
with  the  Jews." 

I  desire  them  likewise  to  look  there,  Sect.  XL,  and 
consider  the  prophecies  given  &o  long  ago,  of  which 
they  see  the  fulfilling  at  this  day,  with  their  own  eyes, 
of  the  state  of  the  Jews,  for  many  ages  past  and  at 
present ;  without  a  king,  or  priest,  or  temple,  or  sacri- 
fice, scattered  to  the  four  winds,  sifted  as  with  a  sieve, 
among  all  nations  ;  yet  so  preserved,  and  always  to  be, 
a  distinct  people  from  all  others  of  the  whole  earth. 
Whereas,  those  mighty  monarchies  which  oppressed  the 
Jews,  and  which  commanded  the  world  in  their  turns  ; 
and  had  the  greatest  human  prospect  of  perpetuity, 
were  to  be  extinguished  as  they  have  been,  even  that 
their  names  should  be  blotted  out  from  under  heaven. 

As  likewise,  that  as  remarkable  of  our  blessed  Sa- 
viour, concerning  the  preservation  and  progress  of  the 
Christian  church,  when  in  her  swaddling  clothes,  con- 
sisting only  of  a  few  poor  fishermen.  Not  by  the  sword, 
as  that  of  Mahomet,  but  under  all  the  persecution  of 


370  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

men  and  hell ;  which  yet  should  not  prevail  against 
her. 

But  though  I  offer  these,  as  not  to  be  slighted  by  the 
deists,  to  which  they  can  show  nothing  equal  in  all  pro- 
fane history  ;  and  in  which  it  is  impossible  any  cheat 
can  lie  ;  yet  I  put  them  not  upon  the  same  foot  as  the 
prophecies  before  mentioned  of  the  marks  and  coming 
of  the  Messiah,  which  have  been  since  the  world 
began. 

And  that  general  expectation  of  the  whole  earth,  at 
the  time  of  his  coming,  insisted  upon  in  the  "  Method 
with  the  Jews,"  Sect.  V.,  is  greatly  to  be  noticed. 

But,  I  say,  the  foregoing  prophecies  of  our  Saviour, 
are  so  strong  a  proof,  as  even  miracles  would  not  be 
sufficient  to  break  their  authority. 

I  mean,  if  it  were  possible  that  a  true  miracle  could 
be  wrought  in  contradiction  to  them.  For  that  would 
be  for  God  to  contradict  himself. 

But  no  sign  or  wonder,  that  could  possibly  be  solved, 
should  shake  this  evidence. 

It  is  this  that  keeps  the  Jews  in  their  obstinacy. 
Though  they  cannot  deny  the  matters  of  fact  done  by 
our  blessed  Saviour,  to  be  truly  miracles,  if  so  done  as 
said.  Nor  can  they  deny  that  they  were  so  done,  be- 
cause they  have  all  the  four  marks  before  mentioned. 
Yet  they  cannot  yield  !  Why  ?  Because  they  think 
that  the  Gospel  is  in  contradiction  to  the  Law.  Which, 
if  it  were,  the  consequence  would  be  unavoidable,  that 
both  could  not  be  true.  To  solve  this,  is  the  business 
of  the  "Method  with  the  Jews."  But  the  contradic- 
tion, which  they  suppose,  is  in  their  comments,  that 
they  put  upon  the  law  ;  especially  they  expect  a  literal 
fulfilling  of  those  promises  of  the  restoration  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  outward  glories  of  the  church,  of  which  there 
is  so  frequent  mention  in  the  books  of  Moses,  the 
Psalms,  and  all  the  prophets.  And  many  Christians 
do  expect  the  same  ;  and  take  those  texts  as  literally 
as  the  Jews  do.  We  do  believe  and  pray  for  the  con- 
version of  the  Jews.  For  this  end  they  have  been  so 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  37 1 

miraculously  preserved,  according  to  the  prophecies  so 
long  before  of  it.  And  when  that  time  shall  come,  as 
they  are  the  most  honorable  and  ancient  of  all  the  na- 
tions on  the  earth,  so  will  their  church  return  to  be  the 
mother  Christian  church,  as  she  was  at  first ;  and  Rome 
must  surrender  to  Jerusalem.  Then  all  nations  will 
flow  thither.  And  even  Ezekiel's  temple  may  be  lit- 
erally built  there,  in  the  metropolis  of  the  whole  earth  ; 
which  Jerusalem  must  be,  when  the  fulness  of  the 
Gentiles,  shall  meet  with  the  conversion  of  the  Jews. 
For  no  nation  will  contend  with  the  Jews,  nor  church 
with  Jerusalem,  for  supremacy.  All  nations  will  be 
ambitious  to  draw  their  original  from  the  Jews,  whose 
are  the  fathers,  and  from  whom,  as  concerning  the 
flesh,  Christ  came. 

Then  will  be  fulfilled  that  outward  grandeur  and  res- 
toration of  the  Jews  and  of  Jerusalem,  which  they  ex- 
pect, pursuant  to  the  prophecies. 

They  pretend  not  that  this  is  limited  to  any  particu- 
lar time  of  the  reign  of  the  Messiah.  They  are  sure  it 
will  not  be  at  the  beginning  ;  for  they  expect  to  go 
through  great  conflicts  and  trials  with  their  Messiah  (as 
the  Christian  church  has  done)  before  his  final  conquest, 
and  that  they  come  to  reign  with  him.  So  that  this 
is  no  obstruction  to  their  embracing  of  Christianity. 
They  see  the  same  things  fulfilled  in  us,  which  they 
expect  themselves  ;  and  we  expect  the  same  things 
they  do. 

I  tell  this  to  the  deists,  lest  they  may  think  that  the 
Jews  have  some  stronger  arguments  than  they  know  of ; 
that  they  are  not  persuaded  by  the  miracles  of  our 
blessed  Saviour,  and  by  the  fulfilling  of  all  the  prophe- 
cies in  him,  that  were  made  concerning  the  Messiah. 

As  I  said  before,  I  would  not  plead  even  miracles 
against  these. 

And  if  this  is  sufficient  to  persuade  a  Jew,  it  is 
much  more  so  to  a  deist,  who  labors  not  under  these 
objections. 

Besides,  I  would  not  seem  to  clash  with  that  (in  a 


372  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSAL1SM. 

sound  sense)  reasonable  caution  used  by  Christian 
writers,  not  to  put  the  issue  of  the  truth  wholly  upon 
miracles,  without  this  addition,  when  not  done  in  con- 
tradiction to  the  revelations  already  given  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures. 

And  they  do  it  upon  this  consideration,  though  it  is 
impossible  to  suppose  that  God  would  work  a  real  mir- 
acle, in  contradiction  to  what  he  has  already  revealed  ; 
yet  men  may  be  imposed  upon  by  false  and  seeming 
miracles,  and  pretended  revelations,  (as  there  are  many 
examples,  especially  in  the  church  of  Rome,)  and  so 
may  be  shaken  in  the  faith,  if  they  keep  not  the  holy 
Scriptures  as  their  rule. 

We  are  told,  2  Thess.  xi.  9,  of  him  whose  coming 
is  after  the  working  of  Satan,  with  all  power,  and  signs, 
and  lying  wonders.  And  Rev.  xiii.  14,  xvi.  14,  and 
xix.  20,  of  the  devil  and  false  prophets,  working  mira- 
cles. But  the  word,  in  all  these  places,  is  only  semeia, 
signs ;  that  is,  as  it  is  rendered  Matt.  xxv.  24  ;  which 
though  sometimes  it  may  be  used  to  signify  real  miracles, 
yet  not  always,  nor  in  these  places.  For,  though  every 
miracle  be  a  sign  and  a  wonder,  yet  every  sign  or  won- 
der is  not  a  miracle. 

IX.  Here  it  may  be  proper  to  consider  a  common 
topic  of  the  deists,  who,  when  they  are  not  able  to 
stand  out  against  the  evidence  of  fact,  that  such  and 
such  miracles  have  been  done,  then  turn. about  and 
deny  such  things  to  be  miracles  ;  at  least,  that  we  can 
never  be  sure  whether  any  wonderful  thing  that  is  shown 
to  us  be  a  true  or  a  false  miracle. 

And  the  great  argument  they  go  upon  is  this  ;  that  a 
miracle  being  that  which  exceeds  the  power  of  nature, 
we  cannot  know  what  exceeds  it,  unless  we  know  the 
utmost  extent  of  the  power  of  nature  ;  and  no  man  pre- 
tends to  know  that ;  therefore,  that  no  man  can  certain- 
ly know  whether  any  event  be  miraculous.  And,  con- 
sequently, he  may  be  cheated  in  his  judgment  between 
true  and  false  miracles. 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  373 

To  which  I  answer,  that  men  may  be  so  cheated,  and 
there  are  many  examples  of  it. 

But  that,  though  we  may  not  always  know  when  we 
are  cheated,  yet  we  can  certainly  tell,  in  many  cases, 
when  we  are  not  cheated. 

For  though  we  do  not  know  the  utmost  extent  of 
the  power  of  nature,  perhaps,  in  any  one  thing  ;  yet  it 
does  not  follow,  that  we  know  not  the  nature  of  any 
thing,  in  some  measure ;  and  that  certainly  too.  For 
example  ;  though  I  do  not  know  the  utmost  extent  of 
the  power  of  fire,  yet  I  certainly  know,  that  it  is  the 
nature  of  fire  to  burn  ;  and  that,  when  proper  fuel  is  ad- 
ministered to  it,  it  is  contrary  to  the  nature  of  fire  not  to 
consume  it.  Therefore,  if  I  see  three  men  taken  off 
the  street,  in  their  common  wearing  apparel,  and  without 
any  preparation  cast  into  the  midst  of  a  burning  fiery 
furnace  ;  and  that  the  flame  was  so  fierce,  that  it  burnt 
up  those  men  that  threw  them  in  ;  and  yet,  that  those 
who  were  thrown  in,  should  walk  up  and  down  in  the 
bottom  of  the  furnace,  and  I  should  see  a  fourth  person 
with  them  of  glorious  appearance,  like  the  Son  of  God  ; 
and  that  these  men  should  come  up  again  out  of  the 
furnace,  without  any  harm,  or  so  much  as  the  smell  of 
fire  upon  themselves,  or  their  clothes,  I  could  not  be 
deceived  in  thinking,  that  there  was  a  stop  put  to  the 
nature  of  fire,  as  to  these  men  ;  and  that  it  had  its  ef- 
fect upon  the  men  whom  it  burnt  at  the  same  time. 

Again,  though  I  cannot  tell  how  wonderful  and  sudden 
an  increase  of  corn  might  be  produced  by  the  concur- 
rence of  many  causes,  as  a  warm  climate,  the  fertility  of 
the  soil,  &c.  ;  yet  this  I  can  certainly  know,  that  there 
is  not  that  natural  force  in  the  breath  of  two  or  three 
words  spoken,  to  multiply  one  small  loaf  of  bread  so  fast, 
in  the  breaking  of  it,  as  truly  and  really,  not  only  in 
appearance  and  show  to  the  eye,  but  to  fill  the  bellies 
of  several  thousand  hungry  persons  ;  and  that  the  frag- 
ments should  be  much  more  than  the  bread  was  at  first. 

So  neither  in  a  word  spoken,  to  raise  the  dead,  cure 
diseases,  &c. 

32 


374  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

Therefore,  though  we  know  not  the  utmost  extent  of 
the  power  of  nature  ;  yet  we  can  certainly  know  what 
is  contrary  to  the  nature  of  several  such  things  as  we  do 
know. 

And  therefore,  though  we  may  be  cheated  and  im- 
posed upon  in  many  seeming  miracles  and  wonders,  yet 
there  are  some  things  wherein  we  may  be  certain. 

But  further,  the  deists  acknowledge  a  God,  of  an  al- 
mighty power,  who  made  all  things  ;  yet  they  would  put 
it  out  of  his  power  to  make  any  revelation  of  his  will 
to  mankind.  For  if  we  cannot  be  certain  of  any  mira- 
cle, how  should  we  know  when  God  sent  any  thing  ex- 
traordinary to  us  ? 

Nay,  how  should  we  know  the  ordinary  power  of  na- 
ture, if  we  know  not  what  exceeded  it  ?  If  we  know 
not  what  is  natural,  how  do  we  know  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  nature  ?  That  all  is  not  supernatural,  all  mira- 
cles, and  so  disputable,  till  we  come  to  downright  skep- 
ticism, and  doubt  the  certainty  of  outward  senses,  wheth- 
er we  see,  hear,  or  feel  ;  or  all  be  not  a  miraculous 
illusion  ! 

Which,  because  I  know  the  deists  are  not  inclined 
to  do,  therefore  I  will  return  to  pursue  my  argument 
upon  the  conviction  of  our  outward  senses,  desiring  only 
this,  that  they  would  allow  the  senses  of  other  men  to 
be  as  certain  as  their  own.  Which  they  cannot  refuse  ; 
since,  without  this,  they  can  have  no  certainty  of  their 
own. 

X.  Therefore,  from  what  has  been  said,  the  cause  is 
summed  up  shortly  in  this,  that  though  we  cannot  see 
what  was  done  before  our  time,  yet  by  the  marks  which 
I  have  laid  down  concerning  the  certainty  of  matters  of 
fact  done  before  our  time,  we  may  be  as  much  assured 
of  the  truth  of  them,  as  if  we  saw  them  with  our  eyes  ; 
because  whatever  matter  of  fact  has  all  the  four  marks 
before  mentioned,  could  never  have  been  invented  and 
received,  but  upon  the  conviction  of  the  outward  senses 
of  all  those  who  did  receive  it,  as  before  is  demonstrat- 
ed. And  therefore  the  topic  which  I  .have  chosen 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  375 

does  stand  upon  the  conviction  even  of  men's  outward 
senses.  And  since  you  have  confined  me  to  one  topic, 
I  have  not  insisted  upon  the  other,  which  I  have  only 
named. 

XL  And  it  now  lies  upon  the  deists,  if  they  would 
appear  as  men  of  reason,  to  show  some  matter  of  fact 
of  former  ages,  which  they  allow  to  be  true,  that  has 
greater  evidence  of  its  truth,  than  the  matters  of  fact  of 
Moses  and  of  Christ ;  otherwise  they  cannot,  with  any 
show  of  reason,  reject  the  one,  and  yet  admit  of  the 
other. 

But  I  have  given  them  greater  latitude  than  this  ;  for 
I  have  shown  such  marks  of  the  truth  of  the  matters  of 
fact  of  Moses  and  of  Christ,  as  no  other  matters  of  fact 
of  those  times,  however  true,  have,  but  these  only  ;  and 
I  put  it  upon  them  to  show  any  forgery  that  has  all  these 
marks. 

This  is  a  short  issue.  Keep  them  close  to  this. 
This  determines  the  cause  all  at  once. 

Let  them  produce  their  Apollonius  Tyanaeus,  whose 
life  was  put  into  English  by  the  execrable  Charles 
Blount,*  and  compared  with  all  the  wit  and  malice  he 
was  master  of,  to  the  life  and  miracles  of  our  blessed 
Saviour.  Let  them  take  aid  from  all  the  legends  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  those  pious  cheats,  the  sorest  dis- 
graces in  Christianity  ;  and  which  have  bid  the  fairest 
of  any  one  contrivance  to  overturn  the  certainty  of  the 
miracles  of  Christ,  and  his  apostles,  and  the  whole 
truth  of  the  Gospel,  by  putting  them  all  upon  the  same 
foot  ;  at  least,  they  are  so  understood  by  the  generality 

*  The  hand  of  that  scorner,  which  durst  write  such  outrageous 
blasphemy  against  his  Maker,  the  divine  vengeance  has  made  his  own 
executioner.  This  I  would  not  have  mentioned,  (because  the  like 
judgment  has  befallen  others,)  but  that  the  Theistical  Club  have  set 
this  up  as  a  principle ;  and  printed  a  vindication  of  this  same  Blount 
for  murdering  himself,  by  way  of  justification  of  self-murder. 
Which  some  of  them  have  since,  as  well  as  formerly,  horribly  prac- 
tised upon  themselves.  Therefore  this  is  no  common  judgment  to 
which  they  are  delivered,  but  a  visible  mark  set  upon  them,  to  show 
how  far  God  has  forsaken  them ;  and  as  a  caution  to  all  Christians, 
to  beware  of  them,  and  not  to  come  near  the  tents  of  these  wicked 
men,  lest  they  perish  in  their  destruction. 


376  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNI  VERBALISM. 

of  their  devotees,  though  disowned  and  laughed  at  by 
the  learned,  and  men  of  sense  among  them. 

Let  them  pick  and  choose  the  most  probable  of  all 
the  fables  of  the  heathen  deities,  and  see  if  they  can 
find,  in  any  of  these,  the  four  marks  before  mentioned. 

Otherwise,  let  them  submit  to  the  irrefragable  certain- 
ty of  the  Christian  religion. 

XII.  But  if,  notwithstanding  all  that  is  said,  the  de- 
ists will  still  contend,  that  all  this  is  but  priestcraft,  the 
invention  of  priests,  for  their  own  profit,  &c.,  then 
they  will  give  us  an  idea  of  priests,  far  different  from 
what  they  intend  ;  for  then,  we  must  look  upon  these 
priests,  not  only  as  the  cunningest  and  wisest  of  man- 
kind, but  we  shall  be  tempted  to  adore  them  as  deities, 
who  have  such  power,  as  to  impose,  at  their  pleasure, 
upon  the  senses  of  mankind  ;  to  make  them  believe, 
that  they  had  practised  such  public  institutions,  enact- 
ed them  bylaws,  taught  them  to  their  children,  &c., 
when  they  had  never  done  any  of  these  things,  or  even 
so  much  as  heard  of  them  before  ;  and  then,  upon  the 
credit  of  their  believing  that  they  had  done  such  things 
as  they  never  did,  to  make  them  further  believe,  upon 
the  same  foundation,  whatever  they  pleased  to  impose 
upon  them,  as  to  former  ages  ;  I  say,  such  a  power  as 
this,  must  exceed  all  that  is  human  ;  and  consequently, 
make  us  rank  these  priests  far  above  the  condition  of 
mortals. 

2.  Nay,  this  would  make  them  outdo  all  that  has 
ever  been  related  of  the  infernal  powers  ;  for  though 
their  legerdemain  had  extended  to  deceive  some  unwa- 
ry beholders,  and  their  power  of  working  some  seem- 
ing miracles  has  been  great,  yet  it  never  reached,  or 
ever  was  supposed  to  reach  so  far,  as  to  deceive  the 
senses  of  all  mankind  in  matters  of  such  public  and  no- 
torious nature  as  those  of  which  we  now  speak  ;  to 
make  them  believe,  that  they  had  enacted  laws  for  such 
public  observances,  continually  practised  them,  taught 
them  to  their  children,  and  had  been  instructed  in  them 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  377 

themselves  from  their  childhood,  if  they  had  never  en- 
acted, practised,  taught,  or  been  taught,  such  things. 

3.  And  as  t'his  exceeds  all  the  power  of  hell  and 
devils,  so  is  it  more  than  ever  God  Almighty  has  done 
since  the  foundation  of  the  world.     None  of  the  mira- 
cles that  he  has  shown  or  belief  which  he  has  required 
to  any  thing  that  he  has  revealed,  has  ever  contradicted 
the  outward  senses  of  any  one  man  in  the  world,  much 
less  of  all  mankind  together.     For  miracles  being  ap- 
peals to  our  outward  senses,  if  they  should  overthrow 
the  certainty  of  our  outward  senses,  must  destroy,  with 
it,  all  their  own  certainty  as  to  us  ;  since  we  have  no 
other  way  to  judge  of  a  miracle  exhibited  to  our  senses, 
than  upon  the  supposition  of  the  certainty  of  our  senses, 
upon  which  we  give  credit  to  a  miracle  that  is  shown  to 
our  senses. 

4.  This,  by  the  way,  is  a  yet  unanswered  argument 
against  the  miracle  of  transubstantiation,  and  shows  the 
weakness  of  the  defence  which  the  church  of  Rome 
offers  for  it,  (fr6m  whom  the  Socinians  have  licked  it 
up,  and  of  late,  have  gloried  much  in  it  among  us,) 
that  the  doctrines  of  the  trinity  or  incarnation  contain 
as  great  seeming  absurdities  as  that  of  transubstantiation. 
For  I  would  ask,  which  of  our  senses  it  is  which  the 
doctrines  of  the  trinity  or  incarnation  do  contradict  ? 
Is   it   our  seeing,  hearing,    feeling,    taste,    or   smell  ? 
whereas  transubstantiation  does  contradict  all  of  these. 
Therefore  the  comparison  is  exceeding  short,  and  out 
of  purpose.     But  to  return. 

If  the  Christian  religion  be  a  cheat,  and  nothing  else 
but  the  invention  of  priests,  and  carried  on  by  their 
craft,  it  makes  their  power  and  wisdom  greater  than  that 
of  men,  angels,  or  devils  ;  and  more  than  God  himself 
ever  yet  showed  or  expressed,  to  deceive  and  impose 
upon  the  senses  of  mankind,  in  such  public  and  notori- 
ous matters  of  fact. 

XIII.  And  this  miracle,  which  the  deists  must  run 
into  to  avoid  these  recorded  of  Moses  and  Christ,  is 
32* 


378  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UNIVERSALISM. 

much  greater,  and  more  astonishing,  than  all  the  Scrip- 
tures tell  of  them. 

So  that  these  men  who  laugh  at  all  miracles,  are  now 
obliged  to  account  for  the  greatest  of  all,  how  the 
senses  of  mankind  could  be  imposed  upon  in  such  pub- 
lic matters  of  fact. 

And  how,  then,  can  they  make  the  priests  the  most 
contemptible  of  all  mankind,  since  they  make  them  the 
sole  authors  of  this  the  greatest  of  miracles  ? 

XIV.  And  since  the  deists  (these  men  of  sense  and 
reason)  have  so  vile  and  mean  an  idea  of  the  priests  of 
all  religions,  why  do  they  not  recover  the  world  out  of 
the  possession  and  government  of  such  blockheads  ? 
Why  do  they  suffer  kings  and  states  to  be  led  by  them ; 
to  establish  their  deceits  by  laws,  and  inflict  penalties 
upon  the  opposers  of  them  ?     Let  the  deists  try  their 
hands  ;  they  have  been  trying,  and  are  now  busy,  about 
it.     And  free  liberty  they  have.     Yet  they  have  not 
prevailed,  nor  ever  yet  did  prevail,  in  any  civilized  or 
generous  nation.     And  though  they  have  some  inroads 
among  the  Hottentots,  and  some  other  the  most  brutal 
part  of  mankind,  yet  are  they  still  exploded,  and  priests 
have  and  do  prevail  against  them,  among  not  only  the 
greatest,  but  best  part  of  the  world,  and  the  most  glo- 
rious for  arts,  learning,  and  war. 

XV.  For  as  the  devil  does  ape  God,  in  his  institu- 
tions of  religion,  his  feasts,  and  sacrifices,  &c.,  so  like- 
wise in  his  priests,  without  whom,  no  religion,  whether 
true  or  false,  can  stand.    False  religion  is  but  a  corrup- 
tion of  the  true.     The  true  was  before  it,  though  it  be 
followed  close  upon  the  heels. 

The  revelation  made  to  Moses  is  older  than  any  his- 
tory extant  in  the  heathen  world.  The  heathens,  in 
imitation  of  him;  pretended  likewise  to  their  revelations  ; 
but  I  have  given  those  marks  which  distinguish  them 
from  the  true  ;  none  of  them  have  those  four  marks 
before  mentioned. 

Now  the  deists  think  all  revelations  to  be  equally 
pretended  and  a  cheat ;  and  the  priests  of  all  religions 


LESLIE'S  METHOD  WITH  THE  DEISTS.  379 

to  be  the  same  contrivers  and  jugglers ;  and  therefore 
they  proclaim  war  equally  against  all,  and  are  equally 
engaged  to  bear  the  brunt  of  all. 

And  if  the  contest  be  only  between  the  deists  and 
the  priests,  which  of  them  are  the  men  of  the  greatest 
parts  and  sense,  let  the  effects  determine  it ;  and  let 
the  deists  yield  the  victory  to  their  conquerors,  who,  by 
their  own  confession,  carry  all  the  world  before  them. 

XVI.  If  the  deists  say,  that  this  is  because  all  the 
world  are  blockheads,  as  well  as  those  priests  who  gov- 
ern them ;  that  all  are  blockheads  except  the  deists, 
who  vote  themselves  only  to  be  men  of  sense  ;  this 
(besides  the  modesty  of  it)   will  spoil  their  great  and 
beloved  topic,  in  behalf  of  what  they  call  natural  reli- 
gion, against  the  revealed,  viz.  appealing  to  the  common 
reason  of  mankind.     This  they  set  up  against  revela- 
tion ;  think  this  to  be  sufficient  for  all  the  uses  of  men, 
here  or  hereafter,  (if  there   be  any  after  state,)    and 
therefore  that  there  is  no  use  of  revelation  ;  this  com- 
mon reason  they  advance  as  infallible,  at  least,  as  the 
surest  guide,  yet  now  cry  out  upon  it,  when  it  turns 
against  them  ;  when  this  common  reason  runs  after  rev- 
elation, (as  it  always  has  done,)  then  common  reason 
is  a  beast ;  and  we  must  look  for  reason,  not  from  the 
common  sentiment   of  mankind,   but  only  among   the 
beaux,  the  deists. 

XVII.  Therefore  if  the  deists  would  avoid  the  mor- 
tification  (which  would  be  very  uneasy  to  them)   to 
yield  and  submit  to  be  subdued  and  hewed  down  before 
the  priests,  whom  of  all  mankind  they  hate  and  despise  ; 
if  they  would  avoid  this,  let  them  confess,  as  the  truth 
is,  that  religion  is  no  invention  of  priests,  but  of  divine 
original  ;  that  priests  were  instituted  by  the  same  author 
of  religion  ;  and  that  their  order  is  a  perpetual  and  liv- 
ing monument  of  the  matters  of  fact  of  their  religion, 
instituted  from  the  time  that  such  matters  of  fact  were 
said  to  be  done,  as  the  Levites  from  Moses  ;  the  apos- 
tles, and  succeeding  clergy,  from  Christ,  to  this  day. 
That  no  heathen  priests  can  say  the  same  ;  they  were 


380  PLAIN  GUIDE  TO  UMVERSALISM. 

not  appointed  by  the  gods  whom  they  served,  but  by 
others  in  after  ages  ;  they  cannot  stand  the  test  of  the 
four  rules  before  mentioned,  which  the  Christian  priests 
can  do,  and  they  only.  Now  the  Christian  priesthood, 
as  instituted  by  Christ  himself,  and  continued  by  suc- 
cession to  this  day,  being  as  impregnable  and  flagrant  a 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  matters  of  fact  of  Christ, 
as  the  sacraments,  or  any  other  public  institutions  ;  be- 
sides that,  if  the  priesthood  were  taken  away,  the  sa- 
craments, and  other  public  institutions,  which  are  ad- 
ministered by  their  hands,  must  fall  with  them  ;  there- 
fore the  devil  has  been  most  busy,  and  bent  his  greatest 
force,  in  all  ages,  against  the  priesthood,  knowing,  that 
if  that  goes  down,  all  goes  with  it. 

XVIII.  And  now,  last  of  all,  if  one  word  of  advice 
would  not  be  lost  upon  men  who  think  so  unmeasurably 
of  themselves,  as  the  deists,  you  may  represent  to  them 
what  a  condition  they  are  in,  who  spend  that  life  and 
sense,  which  God  has  given  them,  in  ridiculing  the 
greatest  of  his  blessings,  his  revelations  of  Christ,  and 
by  Christ,  to  redeem  those  from  sin  and  misery,  who 
shall  believe  in  him  and  obey  his  laws.  And  that  God, 
in  his  wonderful  mercy  and  wisdom,  has  so  guarded  his 
revelations,  as  that  it  is  past  the  power  of  men  or  devils 
to  counterfeit ;  and  that  there  is  no  denying  of  them, 
unless  we  will  be  so  absurd,  as  to  deny  not  only  the 
reason,  but  the  certainty  of  the  outward  senses,  not 
only  of  one,  or  two,  or  three,  but  of  mankind  in  gene- 
ral. That  this  case  is  so  very  plain,  that  nothing  but 
want  of  thought  can  hinder  any  to  discover  it.  That 
they  must  yield  it  to  be  so  plain,  unless  they  can  show 
some  forgery,  which  has  all  the  four  marks  before  set 
down.  But,  if  they  cannot  do  this,  they  must  quit  their 
cause,  and  yield  a  happy  victory  over  themselves  ;  or 
else  sit  down  under  all  that  ignominy,  with  which  they 
have  loaded  the  priests,  of  being,  not  only  the  most 
pernicious,  but  (what  will  gall  them  more)  the  most  in- 
considerate, and  inconsiderable  of  mankind. 


INDEXES. 


(383) 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


ADDING  to  the  word  of  God,  condemned,  248. 

"  After  this  the  judgment,"  sense  of  that  expression,  202,  203,  268. 

All  men,  salvation  of,  infallibly  proved  from  the  Bible,  23  -  54.  God 
the  Creator  of,  23 ;  the  Father  of,  24 ;  the  Lord  or  owner  of, 
24,  247;  committed  to  Christ's  care,  24,  25;  God  wills  to 
save  them,  25,  26 ;  objects  of  God's  love,  27  ;  the  pleasure 
of  God  to  save  them,  28  ;  purpose  of  God  to  save  them,  29 ; 
God  has  promised  to  save  them,  30-32;  hath  made  solemn 
oath  to  their  salvation,  33 ;  the  death  of  Christ  designed  to 
save  them,  34  -36  ;  the  prophets  testify  to  salvation  of  all, 
36  -42 ;  Jesus  testifies  thereto,  43,44  ;  Peter  also,  44  ;  Paul 
also,  45  -  52 ;  John  also,  52  -  54. 

All  things,  restitution  of,  36,  37. 

Anabaptists  of  Germany,  Universalists,  11. 

"  Anathema  Maranatha,"  meaning  of,  184-186. 

Angels,  sense  of  term,  104,  189,  215. 

"     which  kept  not  their  first  estate,  215. 

Anxiety  occasioned  by  Christ,  was  not  produced  by  his  preaching 
endless  misery,  258. 

Apostasy  of  alleged  Universalists,  adduced  against  the  truth  of  their 
doctrine,  259. 

Apprehensions  general  of  the  church,  said  to  be  opposed  to  Univer- 
salism,  252,  answer  to  that  objection,  252,  253. 

Armies  sent  by  God  against  Jerusalem,  167,  168 

Articles  XLU.  specially  condemn  Universalism,  11. 
"     XXXIX.  condemnation  omitted,  11. 

Atonement,  universal,  said  not  to  prove  universal  salvation,  266. 

Barbauld,  Rev.  Rochemont,  a  Universalist,  12. 

••        Mrs.  Anna  Leetitia,  a  Universalist,  12. 
Beast  spoken   of  in  Apocalypse,   not  in   a  future  state,  220-222, 

236,  237. 

**  Before  God,"  meaning  of  that  expression,  241. 
Belief,  not  to  be  managed  at  pleasure,  251. 
Better  resurrection  explained,  207,  208. 
Better  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  God,  than  into  the  hands  of  man, 

206,  207. 

Bible  creed,  18 -22. 

Bible  infallibly  teaches  Universalism,  23-54. 
Blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  97-  101, 134, 135. 
Book  of  life,  meaning  of,  243. 
Books  were  opened,  now  to  be  understood,  241. 


384  GENERAL  INDEX. 

Born  again,  157-159. 
Bottomless  pit  here  on  earth,  239. 
Broad  road,  meaning  of,  84,  85. 
Brown,  James,  D.D.,  a  Universalist,  12. 

"      Rev.  John,  a  Universalist,  12. 
Burnet,  Dr.  T.,  a  Universalist,  12. 
Burning,  a  figure  of  the  destruction  of  the  Jews,  77. 
Burn  up  the  chaff,  meaning  of,  79. 

Capital  punishments  of  the  Jews,  how  distinguished,  214. 
Celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  343,  proposed  form  of,  343-346. 
Character  of  God,  as  held  by  Universalists,  may  be  safely  imitated, 

288,  289. 

Cheyne,  Dr.  George,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Christ,  all  men  committed  to  his  care,  24;  death  of,  34-36;  his 
prayer  considered,  168, 169 ;  his  solicitude  for  the  salvation  of 
n:en,  253 ;  how  to  be  reconciled  with  Universalism,254-257. 
Christian  religion,  Lord's  Supper,  a  striking  proof  of,  333,  334. 
Christians  saved,  every  one  of  them,  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem, 213. 

Churches,  necessity  of  organization  of,  324,  325,  337,  338. 
Church  government,  form  of,  341-343. 
Clement,  of  Alexandria,  a  Universalist,  8. 
Coining  of  Christ  in  his  glory,  124, 125, 185, 186, 189-192. 

"  "       as  a  thief  in  the  night,  111. 

Communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  [See  Lord's  Supper.] 
Confidence  in  God  enjoined  by  Christ,  43,  258. 
Constitution  of  a  Universalist  Society,  301-303. 

"          of  a  Christian  church,  340-343. 
Consuming  fire,  metaphor  put  for  God's  judgments,  209. 
Conversion,  meaning  of  term,  109. 
Coppin,  Richard,  a  Universalist,  12. 
Corruptions  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  319-324. 
Council,  Matt.  v.  22,  meaning  of,  83. 

"       Fifth  General,  condemned  Universalism,  10. 
Creed,  a  Bible  form,  18-22. 
Cruelty,  not  to  be  charged  on  God,  111. 

Current  of  Scripture,  said  to  be  in  favor  of  eternal  punishment,  272, 
shown  to  be  incorrect,  272,  273. 

"  Damnation  of  hell,"  sense  of,  page  118,  does  not  necessarily  imply 

endless  misery,  161. 

Damnation,  signifies  judgment,  184,  195,  is  in  this  world,  195. 
Damned,  meaning  of  the  term,  143,  194. 
Daniel's  description  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  76. 
Darkness,  sense  of  that  phrase,  88,  not  endless,  88. 
Darkness,  outer,  sense  of  phrase,  117,  118. 
Day,  meaning  of  term,  176. 
"    of  destruction  and  wrath,  60,  179-181. 
"    of  the  Lord,  meaning  of  phrase,  85,  86,  206,  216,  217. 
"    that  burned  as  an  oven,  77. 

"  of  judgment,  meaning  of,  89,  90,  96,  179,  216,  217,  said  to  be 
denied  by  Universalists,  267 ;  they  do  not  deny  the  scrip- 
tural account  of  a  day  of  judgment,  268. 


GENERAL  INDEX.  385 

Dead,  small  and  great,  stood  before  God,  240,  241. 
Death,  a  common  meaning  of,  85,  164,  224,  233. 

"      of  the  High  Priest,  compared  with  that  of  Christ,  200. 

**     without  mercy,  sense  of,  204. 

"     sin  unto,  214. 

"     the  Second,  considered,  220-235. 

"     and  hell  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  241,  meaning  of,  242. 

"     cannot  dissolve  our  relation  to  God,  247. 

"     to  be  no  more,  53. 

"     a  detector  of  the  heart,  274. 

Deists,  Leslie's  "Short  and  Easy  Method  with,"  347-381. 
Destroy  soul  and  body,  meaning  of,  92- 95;  authors  who  treat  on 

this  subject,  95. 

Destruction  of  the  wicked,  61,  69,  73. 
Devil,  sense  of  the  term,  132, 133. 
Didymus,  a  Universalist,  9. 
Die  in  your  sins,  164, 165. 
Diodorus,  Bishop  of  Tarsus,  a  Universalist,  9. 
Disobedience   punished   under  the   Gospel,  as  well   as   under  the 

Law,  196. 

Doubts  alleged  against  Universalisls,  259,  260. 
Douglass,  Neil,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Doway  translation,  on  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  98,  99. 
Dust,  to  sleep  in,  meaning  of,  75  ;   to  arise  from,  &c.  75. 
Duties  of  Universalisls,  277-294;  do.  of  members  of  Universalist 
societies,  305-308. 

Earbury,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Earth  and  heaven  fled  away,  240. 

Elements  melt  with  fervent  heat,  explained,  244. 

Elevation  of  the  host,  origin  of,  323. 

Empty  professions  of  no  avail,  87,  126,  127,  128. 

End  of  the  wicked,  meaning  of,  69,  91,  92, 100, 101, 103,  106,  120, 

142,  168,  181. 

Endless  misery,  no  safety  in  believing,  251. 
Eternal  fire,  218,  219. 

"      hell  torments  overthrown,  published,  12. 

"     judgments,  196,  197. 

"      punishment,  current  of  Scripture,  said  to  be  in  favor  of,  272; 

that  objection  shown  not  to  be  sustained,  272,  273. 
Eternal  and  everlasting,  how  used  by  the  Fathers,  13;  by  the  proph- 
ets of  old,  219. 
Evagrius,  a  Univerealist,  9. 
Everard,  a  Universalist,  12. 
Everlasting  life,  159,  160,  [see  Life  Eternal.] 

punishment,  never  mentioned  in   connexion    with   the 

resurrection  of  the  dead,  163. 

destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  191  -193. 
Evidences  of  revealed  religion,  346. 
Example  of  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  218,  219. 

Fabius  Marius  Victorinus,  a  Universalist,  9. 
Faith,  not  to  be  managed  at  pleasure,  251. 

33 


386  GENERAL  INDEX. 

Faith,  our  duty  to  make  a  profession  of,  338,  339;  what  that  profes- 

sion  is,  340. 
Fearful  looking  for  of  judgment,  204. 

"      thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  God,  sense  of  that  idiom,  206. 
"  Fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body,"  92-96. 
Feasts  sacred,  among  the  Jews,  318. 
Fifth  General  Council,  condemns  Universalism,  10. 
Fire,  a  figure  of  divine  judgments,  74,  77, 104, 105, 137, 138, 190,209, 

210,  234,  235,  237. 
«     unquenchable,  79,  1 37  -  140. 
"    consuming,  put  for  God's  judgments,  209,  210. 
"     and  brimstone,  64. 

«  "          lake  of,  220  -  222,  234,  237,  238. 

First  death,  what  it  signifies,  225. 
Flaming  fire,  (see  Fire.) 

Forehead,  Father's  name  upon,  meaning  of  that  figure,  338. 
Forever,  and  forever  and  ever,  sense  of  the  terms,  220,  238. 
Form  of  Church  Government,  341-343. 

"       Administering  the  Lord's  Supper,  343-346. 
Freedom,  Religious,  established  in  Massachusetts  by  Article  XI.  of 

Amendments  to  Constitution,  295. 
Furnace  of  fire,  104,  was  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  105. 

Galileans,  destroyed  by  Pilate,  144. 

Gehenna,  passages  wherein  the  word  is  found,  81  ;  supposed  to  signi- 
fy a  place  of  endless  punishment,  81 ;  literal  sense  of,  82; 
formerly  a  holy  place  of  idol  worship,  82;  defiled  and  dis- 
graced, 82 ;  made  a  figure  of  any  great  evil,  82,  83  ;  au- 
thors who  have  treated  on  the  word,  84 ;  was  not  used  in 
the  Saviour's  time  to  signify  endless  punishment,  93,  94 ; 
described  the  temporal  punishment  of  the  Jews,  118. 
General  apprehension  of  church,  said  to  be  against  Universalism,  252 ; 

answer  to  that  objection,  252,  253. 

"       convention  of  Universalists,  its  profession  of  belief,  18. 
Gentiles,  fulness  of,  to  be  brought  in,  119, 165. 

"        received  the  Gospel  gladly,  172. 
Gnostics,  received  Universalism,  9,  10. 

God,  the  Creator  of  men,  23 ;  the  Father  of  men,  24  ;  Lord  or  Owner 
of"  men,  24 ;  commits  all  men  to  Christ's  care,  24 ;  his  will  to 
save  all,  25;  his  nature,  26,  27;  his  wisdom,  27 ;  his  pleasure, 
28 ;  his  purpose,  29;  his  promises,  30  ;  his  oath,  33 ;  his  power, 
33,  34 ;  how  a  consuming  fire,  209-211 ;  wills  salvation  of  all, 
266 ;  his  character,  as  held  by  Universalists,  may  be  safely  im- 
itated, 289. 
Gospel,  disobedience  punished  under,  as  well  as  under  the  law,  196. 

"       glorious  results  of,  among  men,  244,  245. 

Graves,  the  term  never  used  in  connexion  with  the  immortal  resur- 
rection of  the  dead,  161,  162. 
Great  day,  judgment  of  215  —  217. 
Gregory,  Bishop  of  Nyssa,  a  decided  Universalist,  8. 
Nazianzus,  "  9. 

Hand  of  God,  to  fall  into,  sense  of  that  phrase,  206 ;  better  than  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  men,  206,  207. 


GENERAL  INDEX.  387 

Hartley,  Dr.  D.,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Harvest,  meaning  of,  102,  181. 

Hell  fire  (Gehenna),  Matt.  v.  22,  meaning  of,  83,  137;  damnation  of, 
118,  fire  of,  136,  137. 

Hell  (Hades),  how  employed,  96  ;  sense  of  in  parable  of  Rich  Man  and 
Lazarus,  151  - 153;  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  241. 

Hell  (Sheol),  meaning  of,  61-64,  71. 

Henderson,  John,  a  Universalist,  12. 

High  Priest,  death  of,  previous  to  the  Judgment,  200 ;  compared  with 
death  of  Christ,  201. 

His  own  place,  to  whom  the  phrase  applies,  171. 

Holiness,  without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord,  208. 

Holy  Ghost,  sin  against,  97-101 ;  what  it  is,  99;  hath  not  forgive- 
ness, 134,  135. 

House  of  God,  judgment  began  at,  211. 

Hypocrite's  hope  shall  perish,  58-61 ;  his  joy  is  for  a  moment,  59, 
60,  72. 

Impossible  to  renew  certain  apostates  to  repentance,  197 ;  not  impos- 
sible to  God,  198 ;  in  what  sense  true,  199,  200. 
"         for  God  to  lie,  51. 
Inquisition,  not  founded  by  Universalists,  262. 

Jailer,  case  of,  considered,  173-175. 

Jerome,  at  first  a  Universalist,  9. 

Jerusalem,  destruction  of,  described  by  Daniel,  76,222;  represented 

by  burning,  77 ;  described  as  a  furnace  of  fire,  105. 
Jesus,  the  Christ,  testimony  of  to  Universalism,  43,  44;  judge,  or  ru- 
ler, 177,  178. 

Jewish  sacred  feasts,  318. 
Jews,  all  at  last  to  be  saved,  47,  119, 120,  105,  235;  rejected  Jesus, 

166  ;  consequence  thereof,  167. 
John,  testimony  of  to  Universalism,  52,  54. 

Judas,  case  of  considered,  130- 134 ;  two  accounts  of  his  death  recon- 
ciled, 132  ;  did  not  commit  self-murder,  133;  good,  if  he  had 
not  been  born,  that  proverb  considered,  133  ;  "  nis  own  place," 
does  not  refer  to  him,  133, 134, 170  ;  fully  repented,  133 ;  hope 
of  his  salvation,  134  ;  called  son  of  perdition,  169  ;  not  irrecov- 
erably lost,  170  ;  words  in  Acts  i.  25  not  to  be  referred  to  him, 
170;  but  to  Matthias,  171,  273. 
Judgment,  after  the  death  of  the  high  priest,  200-203,  268. 

"          began  at  the  house  of  God,  211 ;  meaning  of  the  word  in 
Matt.  v.  22    (83);  sense  of  in  Acts  xviF.  30  (175-178); 
proof  that  it  took  place  at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of 
Christ's  kingdom,  229;  not  at  the  immortal  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  230  ;  for  at  the  resurrection  Christ's  kingdom 
is  given  up,  not  established,  230:  judgment  beyond  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  not  taught  in  the  Bible,  230,231 ; 
day  of,  said  to  be  denied  by  Universalists,  267 ;  answer  to 
that  objection,  268. 
eternal,  196,  197. 
fearful  looking  for,  204. 
to  fall  under,  a  fearful  thing,  206. 


388  GENERAL  INDEX. 

Judgment,  general,  took  place  at  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  187, 188, 
229,  238-244 ;  and  see  other  places  under  Judg- 
ment. 
11         seat  of  Christ,  186  -  188,  229. 

"Judgment  to  come,"  sense  of,  178. 

Judgments  of  God,  established  in  this  world,  73,  74,  91, 176, 177, 216 
217;  cause  of  joy,  177. 

Kingdom  of  heaven,  meaning  of  the  term,  80,  81,  87,  88;  rich  men 
shall  hardly  enter,  113, 114  ;  meaning  of  in  par- 
able of  Ten  Virgins,  121 ;  what  is  intended  by 
entering  into,  135,  136 ;  to  sit  down  in,  with 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  146, 147;  to  be  thrust 
out,  147, 148 ;  sense  of  in  John  iii.  3  (158, 159)  ; 
unrighteous  shall  not  inherit  it,  182, 183. 

Lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  220  -  222,  234,  235  ;  death  and  hell  cast 
into,  241,242. 

Last  day,  last  times,  explained,  168.    [See  under  End  of  the  world.] 
"    plagues,  explained,  248,  249. 

Laugh  at  your  calamity,  70. 

Laws  of  Massachusetts  concerning  religious  societies,  295-301. 
New  York,  301. 

Laymen  should  exercise  their  spiritual  gifts,  315. 

Lazarus  and  Rich  Man,  parable  of,  148-153. 

Life  eternal,  scriptural  sense  of  the  term,  85,  129, 130, 135, 136, 140, 
141,  159,  160. 

Likewise  perish,  sense  of  the  phrase,  144-  146. 

Lord's  Supper,  object  of,  183, 318, 319 ;  examination  necessary  before 
participation,  184  ;  took  its  rise  in  sacred  customs  of 
the  Jews,  318;  soon  corrupted  after  the  death  of 
Christ,  319  ;  corruptions  traced,  319-324  ;  if  not  ab- 
solutely an  ordinance,  still  very  necessary,  326  ;  good 
practical  effects  of,  327  ;  proofs  that  it  is  enjoined  as 
an  ordinance,  328-330;  who  may  join  in  the  cele- 
bration, 330-332 ;  is  it  necessary  to  join  a  church, 
332 ;  persons  should  not  be  compelled  to  observe  it, 
333  ;  one  of  the  striking  proofs  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion, 333,  334  ;  people  of  doubting,  humble  minds, 
kept  away  from  service  through  fear,  334 ;  their 
objections  noticed,  335,  336 ;  how  often  the  Supper 
maybe  celebrated,  343;  form  of  administering  the 
Supper,  343  -  346. 

Love,  the  nature  of  God,  26;  of  God  to  sinners,  good  tendency  of 
preaching  it,  287,  288 ;  he  first  loved  men,  288. 

Loss  of  soul  means  loss  of  life1*  107-109. 

Lowest  hell,  meaning  of,  57,  58,  61  -  64. 

Malachi,  describes  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  77. 

Manicheans  held  to  Universalism,  10. 

Maranatha,  explained,  184-186. 

Marcellus,  bishop  of  Ancyra,  a  Universalist,  8. 

Massachusetts,  laws  of,  concerning  religious  societies,  295-301. 


GENERAL  INDEX.  389 

Matthew  xxiv.  and  xxv.  one  continued  discourse,  121, 122. 
Matthias,  referred  to  in  Acts  i.  25  (171). 
Morality,  as  taught  by  Christ,  286,  287. 
More,  Dr.  H.,  12. 
Murray,  John,  12,  13. 

Mystery,  an  ancient  corruption  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  320.    [See  un- 
der Lord's  Supper.] 

Necessity  of  the  organization  of  churches,  324,  325,  337,  338. 

"Neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the  world  to  come,"  100, 101. 

"  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,"  168,  169. 

New  Birth,  157-159. 

New  Hampshire,  Supreme  Court  of,  strange  decision  concerning  Uni- 

versalists,  17  ;  called  forth  the  famous  profession  of 

belief,  17. 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  inclined  to  Universalism,  12. 

"       Bishop  T.,  a  Universalist,  12. 
New  York,  laws  of,  concerning  religious  societies,  301. 

Oath  of  God,  33. 

Objections   to  Universalism  considered,  250-277;    are   objections 

against  the  word  of  God,  270. 
Offending  hand  or  foot,  parable  of,  135-140. 

Old  Testament  passages,  strange  manner  employed  by  some,  of  weav- 
ing them  together,  55. 

Opposition  to  Christ  and  his  apostles,  said  to  be  inconsistent  with  Uni- 
versalism, 256 ;  answer  to  that  objection,  257,  258. 
"  Ordained  to  eternal  life,"  171,  172.     . 
Ordinance  of  Lord's  Supper.     [See  Lord's  Supper.] 
Organization  of  churches,  necessity  of,  324,  325,  337,  338. 
Ongen,  a  Universalist,  8. 
Origenists,  doubtless  Universalists,  9. 

"        condemned,  10, 14. 

Outer  darkness,  sense  of  the  phrase,  117, 118,  123. 
Own  place,  to  whom  applies,  171. 

Parable  of  tares  and  wheat,  102,  273;  of  the  net,  106,  273;  of  the 
unforgiving  servant,  110;  of  the  wedding  garment,  115; 
of  the  ten  virgins,  120-123;  of  the  unprofitable  servant, 
123,  124 ;  of  the  sheep  and  goats,  124-130,  272,  273;  of 
the  offending  hand  or  foot,  135-140;  of  the  rich  man  and 
Lazarus,  148-153;  of  the  vineyard,  167. 

Parables,  hard  to  apply  them,  112. 

Paradox,  remarkable,  259. 

Parallelism  of  Hebrew  poetry,  71. 

Parental  character  of  God,  influence  of  belief  in,  289,  290. 

Parliament  of  England,  cruel  statutes  of,  against  Universalism,  11. 

Passover,  design  of,  318,  356. 

Paul,  testimony  of,  to  Universalism,  45  -  52.  ^ 

Peace  with  all  men,  to  be  followed,  208. 

Peculiar  duties  of  Universalists,  282. 

Penitentiaries,  inmates  of,  generally  believers  of  endless  misery,  261. 

Pentecost,  design  of,  318. 


33* 


i> 


390  GENERAL  INDEX. 

Perdition,  son  of,  169. 

Perfection  of  God,  to  be  imitated,  284  -287. 

Perish,  sense  of  that  phrase,  66,  144,  145. 

Peterson,  John  William,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Peter,  testimony  of,  to  Universalism,  44. 

Plagues,  threatened  for  adding  to  word  of  God,  248-250. 

Pleasure  of  God,  28. 

Portion  of  the  wicked,  what  it  is,  64,  65. 

Power  of  God,  33,  34. 

Pray  not  for  the  world,  168, 169. 

Presence  of  God,  sense  of  that  phrase,  68, 191,  192. 

Probation,  doctrine  of,  not  taught  in  the  Bible,  271. 

Profession  of  belief  of  general  convention,  17,  18;  how  it  originated, 

17,  18. 
Profession  of  Faith,  a  duty  enjoined  on  Christians,  338,  339 ;  what  is 

a  Christian  profession,  340. 
Profligate  and  abandoned,  falsely  said  to  escape  punishment  in  this 

life,  265. 

Promise  of  God,  30 ;  not  opposed  to  threatenings,  32. 
Prophets,  testimony  of,  to  Universalism,  36-42. 
Punishment,  not  endless,  126  —  128. 

"          sorer,  of  those  who  apostatized  from  Christianity,  204, 

205 ;  total  amount  of,  in  this  life,  objected  to,  265. 
Purpose  of  God,  29. 
Purves,  James,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Quarrel  with  the  Origenists,  10. 

Ramsay,  Chevalier,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Reapers,  what  they  signify,  103. 

Reformation,  commencement  of,  11. 

Religious  freedom  established  in  Massachusetts,  295. 

Relly,  James,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Repent,  all  men  commanded  to,  176. 

Repentance,  impossible  to  renew  to,  197 ;  not  impossible  to  God, 
198;  in  what  sense  true,  199,  200. 

Reprobation  to  eternal  death,  not  taught  in  the  Bible,  171. 

Restitution  of  all  things,  36,  37. 

Resurrection  of  the  dead  to  immortality,  154, 157,  271 ;  never  de- 
scribed as  resurrection  from  the  graves,  162;  never 
mentioned  in  connexion  with  retribution,  163, 164 ;  not 
two  classes  after  it,  264,  265. 

Resurrection,  the  term  does  not  necessarily  apply  to  resurrection  into 
future  life,  160, 161,  225-227,  232,  233,  269. 

Resurrection  better,  explained,  207,  208. 

"  of  damnation,  160-164,  230,  231,  fulfilled  at  the  de- 

struction of  Jerusalem,  232. 

Retribution,  never  spoken  of  in  connexion  with  immortal  resurrec- 
tion, 163,  164. 

Revelation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  from  heaven,  190. 

Richardson,  Samuel,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Rich  man,  hardly  enler  the  kingdom  of  God,  112, 113. 

Rich  Man  and  Lazarus,  parable  of,  148-  153. 


GENERAL  INDEX.  391 

Rich  men  not  always  the  best  members  of  religious  societies,  312, 

314,  315. 

"     societies,  not  always  the  most  prosperous,  314. 
Righteous,  all  at  last  shall  become  so,  183. 

"          scarcely  be  saved,  212;   recompensed  in  the  earth,  212. 
"          and  wicked,  two  classes  considered,  263  —  265. 
Righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  80. 

Sabbath,  a  wise  institution,  315. 

Sacrament,  an  original  corruption  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  319,  [See 

Lord's  Supper.] 
Sacred  feasts  of  the  Jews,  318. 

Sacrifice  for  sin,  none  other  than  that  of  Christ,  204. 
Safe  side,  the  argument  for  considered,  250,  251. 
Salvation  of  all  men,  infallibly  proved  from  the  Bible,  23-54 
Saved,  sense  of  that  phrase,  143,  174, 175,  212. 
Saviour  of  the  world,  35,  36. 
Scriptural  evidences  of  Universalism,  23-54. 

Sealing  of  a  book  [or  roll],  when  the  event  was  distant,  246;  oppo- 
site, when  it  was  near,  246. 
Second  coming  of  Christ,  124-126. 

"      death,  220,  common  opinion  of,  223;  means  second  destruc- 
tion of  the  Jews,  223,  228. 
See  God,  an  expression  drawn  from  the  custom  of  eastern  kings, 

208,  209. 

Separation,  between  good  and  evil,  163. 
Seven  last  plagues  explained,  248,  249 ;  poured  out  upon  the  earth, 

249,  250. 
Sheep  and  Goats,  parable  of,  124  - 130 ;  fulfilled  at  the  coming  of 

Christ,  272,  273. 

"  Short  and  Easy  Method  with  the  Deists,"  347-380. 
Siegvolk,  Paul,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  97  - 101 ;  in  what  it  consists,  99  ;  the 
sense  in  which  it  hath  not  forgiveness, 
134,  135. 

Sin  of  every  description  to  be  pardoned,  98. 
Sin  unto  death,  214. 

Sinning  wilfully,  what  does  it  mean,  203. 
Skinner,  Rev.  Dr.,  Bible  Creed,  18-22. 
Sleep  in  dust,  signification  of,  75. 

Societies,  formation  of,  294  ;  laws  of  Massachusetts  concerning, 
295-301;  do.  of  New  York,  301;  Constitution  for, 
301-303;  duties  of  members  of,  305-308;  true  pros- 
perity of  described,  308-312;  members  of  should  con- 
tribute liberally  to  the  support  of  the  Gospel,  313. 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  destruction  of,  64  ;  more  tolerable  than  that 

of  the  Jews,  89 ;   an  example,  218. 
Solicitude  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  253-256. 
Son  of  perdition,  sense  of  phrase,  32,169,  170. 
Soul  put  for  life,  106,  107. 

Sowing  and  reaping,  a  figure  employed  to  represent  connexion  be- 
tween crime  and  punishment,  265. 
Spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  man,  57. 


392  GENERAL  INDEX. 

Stonehouse,  Sir  George,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Strait  gate,  meaning  of,  84. 

Strive  to  enter  in,  meaning  of,  148. 

Supper,  [See  Lord's  Supper.] 

Sybilline  Oracles,  Universalism  defended  in,  8. 

Taking  away  from  the  word  of  God  condemned,  248. 

Targums,  date  of,  94. 

Temporal  judgments,  under  figure  of  fire,  [See  Fire.] 

Tendency  of  Universalism,  said  to  be  corrupt,  262;  answer  to  that 

objection,  262,  263. 
Ten  virgins,  parable  of,  120  -  123. 
Terror  of  the  Lord,  meaning  of,  188,  189. 
Testimony  of  prophets  to  Universalism,  36-42;   of  Jesus,  43,  44  j 

of  Peter,  44;   of  Paul,  45  -  52 ;   of  John,  52,  53. 
"  That  day,"   meaning  of,  85,  86,  179  -  181. 
Theodore,  Bishop  of  Mopsuestia,  a  Universalist,  9. 
Thessalonians,  troubled  by  the  Jews,  189, 193,  194. 
This  generation,  sense  of  phrase,  118. 
"  Thou  shalt  surely  die,"  sense  of,  56. 
Threatenings,  not  opposed  to  promises,  32. 
Throne  of  Christ's  glory,  239,  240. 
Tillotson,  Archbishop  12. 
Titus,  bishop  of  Bostra,  a  Universalist,  8. 
Torn  in  pieces,  sense  of  the  phrase,  68. 
Two  classes  among  mankind  considered,  263  —  265. 

Unitarians,  early  English,  were  Universalists,  12. 

Universal  atonement,  alleged  not  to  prove  universal  salvation,  266. 


Universalism,  taught  in  the  Old  Testament,  7;  in  the  New,  7,8; 
early  traces  of,  8-10;  condemnation  of  by  Fifth 
General  Council,  10 ;  soon  met  less  favor,  11 ;  ap- 


pears anew  at  the  Reformation,  11 ;  number  of  preach- 
ers of,  in  the  United  States,  13 ;  no  new  doctrine,  13; 
how  at  first  put  down,  14  ;  scriptural  evidences  of, 
23-54;  objections  to  considered,  250-277;  falsely 
said  to  be  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  prudence,  250 ; 
general  apprehensions  of  the  church  said  to  be  oppos- 
ed to,  252 ;  answer  to  that  objection,  252,  253 ;  said  to 
be  of  a  corrupt  moral  tendency,  262,  answer  to  that 
objection,  262,  263 ;  said  to  fail  in  the  hour  of  death, 
274 ;  that  objection  answered,  274  -  277 ;  exalts  the 
character  of  God,  287 ;  to  be  tested  must  be  put  in 
practice,  291,292. 

Universalists,  who  they  are,  7,  277,  278;  what  do  they  believe,  15; 
are  not  infidels,  15;  are  not  distinguished  merely  by 
a  disbelief  in  future  punishment,  16;  the  distinguish- 
ing point  of  their  faith,  16,  17,  22;  admit  of  no  dis- 
tinction on  the  subject  of  limited  future  punishment, 
17;  alleged  not  to  take  the  safe  side,  250;  primary 
question  with,  252  ;  such  as  never  believed  Universal- 
ism renounce  it,  259 ;  falsely  said  to  be  doubtful  of 
their  cause,  260  ;  objected  to,  because  they  believe  in 


GENERAL  INDEX.  393 

[Universalists,]  too  much  punishment,  265 ;  said  to  deny  the  day  of 
judgment,  £67;  answer  to  that  objection,  268;  be- 
lieve that  all  at  last  will  repent  and  be  saved,  269 :  an 
objection  stated  thereto,  269 ;  alleged  to  believe  in 
another  state  of  probation,  270 ;  answer  to  that  ob- 
jection, 271,272;  what  are  the  duties  of,  277-294; 
two  kinds  of,  positive  and  negative,  278-280;  am  I 
really  a  Universalist,  the  test,  280,  281 ;  believe  in  a 
God,  whose  character  maybe  safely  imitated,  289; 
the  necessity  of  their  living  according  to  their  faith, 
289,  290 ;  some  dishonor  the  name  they  bear,  291 ; 
feel  a  deep  interest  in  sustaining  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, 346. 

Universalist  churches,  [See  under  churches.] 
"  societies,  [See  under  societies.] 

Unprofitable  servant,  parable  of,  123,  124. 

Unquenchable  fire,  79. 

Unrighteous  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,  182, 183. 

Vengeance  taken  on  the  Jews,  190, 191 ;  belongs  to  God,  206. 

"         of  eternal  fire,  218,  219. 
Vision  shut  up,  when  the  event  was  distant,  240. 
Vital  godliness,  essential  to  Christian  character,  293,  294. 

Watchfulness  enjoined,  in  view  of  Christ's  coming,  121. 

Wedding  garment,  meaning  of,  116. 

Weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth,  sense  of,  117,  118,  147. 

«'  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  173-175. 

Whiston,  William,  against  eternal  torments,  12. 

White,  Jeremy,  a  Universalist,  12. 

"  Whither  1  go,  ye  cannot  come,"  164,  165. 

Wicked,  shall  not  escape,  59 ;  the  triumphing  of,  short,  59, 60 ;  shall  be 
turned  into  hell,  61  -  64  ;  have  their  portion  in  this  life,  64  ; 
what  is  their  portion,  64,  65 ;  shall  perish,  66,  67 ;  falsely 
said  that  they  generally  embrace  Universalism,  260 ;  an- 
swer to  that  objection,  261,  262. 

Will  of  God  to  save  all  men,  25,  266 ;  yet  it  is  alleged  all  will  not  be 
saved,  206;  answer  to  that  objection. 
267. 

Winchester,  Rev.  Elhanan,  13. 

Winnowing  fan,  what  is  intended  thereby,  78. 

Winstanley,  Gerard,  a  Universalist,  12. 

Wisdom  of  God,  27;  wisdom  personified,  70. 

World  to  come,  sense  of  that  phrase,  100, 101,  141, 142. 

World,  end  of,  [See  End  of  the  World.] 

Worm  that  dieth  not,  138,  139. 

Worthy  to  obtain  resurrection,  meaning  of,  154, 155, 156. 

Wrath  of  God,  160,  178,  179-181,  236,  237,  248,  249. 
to  come,  meaning  of,  77,  78,  181. 
day  of,  179,  180;  came  on  unbelieving  Jews,  181. 

Zeal,  importance  of,  303 ;  we  can  never  impart  it  to  others,  unless 
we  have  it  in  ourselves,  304,  305. 


(394) 


INDEX   OF  AUTHORS. 


ALLEN,  President  of  Bowdoin  College,  on  Deut.  xxxii.  22,  (58) ; 

views  of  Psalm  ix.  17,  (62). 
Athenseus,  on  the  lights  used  by  the  Jews,  117. 
Austin,  on  the  word  angel,  215. 

"      Rev.  Dr.,  of  Worcester,  Mass  ,  his  melancholy  end,  255. 
Authors  of  Improved  Version,  on  Rom.  v.  18,  19,  (46). 

Bache,  Mrs.,  daughter  of  Dr.  Franklin,  testimony  to  her  father's  be- 
lief in  Universalism,  292. 

Balch,  Rev.  A.  L.,  his  happy  death,  276, 277. 

Balfour,  Rev.  Walter,  his  First  Inquiry  replied  to  by  President  Allen, 
62;  on  the  relation  between  Matt.  xiii.  37-43  and  47-50  ; 
(106) ;  on  punishment  of  Gentiles  not  being  in  the  future 
state,  180  ;  believes  the  Lord's  Supper  to  be  enjoined  as  an 
ordinance,  323,  330 ;  on  the  words  damned  and  damnation, 
194,  195 ;  wrote  on  objections  to  Universalism,  277 ;  his 
First  Inquiry  quoted  and  referred  to,  62,  84,  96,  154,  277; 
Second  do.  101,  105,  106,  123,  130,  194  ;  Essays,  do.  91, 
178,  195,  213 ;  Letters  to  Hudson,  96  ;  Reply  to  Sabine,  91, 
96  ;  Reply  to  Stuart,  96  ;  Article  in  Universalist  Magazine, 
Vol.  V.,  on  2  Thess.  i.  7-10,  (194). 

Ballou,  Rev.  H.,one  of  the  committee  for  forming  Profession  of  Be- 
lief, 17 ;  view  of  Matt.  10,  28,  Luke  xii.  4,  5,  (95, 96, 144 ;)  on 
sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  101 ;  on  Matt.  xxv.  46,  (130)  ; 
on  parable  of  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus,  153;  on  2  Cor.  v.  10, 
(189) ;  on  2  Thess.  i.  7  - 10,  (194) ;  do.  ii.  1 1,  12,  194,  195) ; 
on  Heb.  ix.  27,  (203)  ;  1  Peter  iv.  17,  18,  (213) ;  on  the 
Second  Death,  223. 

Ballou,  Rev.  H.  2d,  History  of  Universalism  referred  to,  11  ;  view 
of  judgment  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  89  ;  view  of  Matt.  x. 
28,  (96) ;  view  of  Matt.  xix.  23,  24,  (112)  ;  his  views  on  the 
organization  of  churches,  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  324-328. 

Bellamy,  Dr.,  his  misery  in  his  sickness,  255. 

Belsham,  on  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  to  happiness,  48. 

Bernard,  Count  of  Barcelona,  signed  a  treaty  with  the  sacramental 
wine,  321. 

Blount,  the  blasphemer,  committed  self-murder,  375,  note. 

Burnet,  Bishop,  on  the  phrase  "  eateth  and  drinketh  damnation  to 
himself,"  184. 

Calmet,  on  Anathema  Maranatha,  185. 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS.  395 

Campbell,  on  phrase  "  wrath  to  come,"  77,  78  ;  on  the  word  catfo- 
£aro,  132;  on  the  term  "damned,"  143;  on  Luke  xx.  35, 
36,  (156)  ;  on  the  phrase  "  aruaraau;  TWV  rtxQcHv,"  225. 

Capellus  (Jacobus),  on  Heb.  xi.  35,  (208). 

Carlstadt,  took  the  proper  ground  in  regard  to  the  Eucharist,  323. 

Charles   the  Bald,  signed  a  treaty  with  the  sacramental  wine,  321. 

Chillingworth,  on  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  264. 

Christian  Intelligencer,  quotation  from,  on  the  resurrection  of  the 

dead,  157. 
"        Messenger,  quotation  from,  on  "lake  of  fire,"  222. 

Clarke,  Dr.  Adam,  the  Methodist,  on  prayer  for  all  men,  25  ;  on  the 
words  "  full  of  mercy,"  27  ;  on  Rev.  iv.  11,  (28)  ;  on  Isaiah 
liii.  10,  (28);  on  Gen.  xii.3,  (31)  ;  on  the  oath  of  God,  33;  on 
Acts  iii.  21,  (37)  ;  on  Gospel  Feast,  40  ;  on  Titus  ii.  11,  12, 
(51)  ;  on  phrase  "  thou  shall  not  surely  die,"  56  ;  on  Gen. 
vi.  3,  (57)  ;  applies  Deut.  xxxii.  22,  to  temporal  judgments, 
58;  on  the  opinions  of  Zophar,  Job  xi.  1,  (59);  on  Ps.  ix. 
5,  (61)  ;  on  Ps.  xi.  6,  (64)  ;  on  Ps.  xvii.  13,  14,  (65)  ;  on  Prov. 
i.  26-29,  (70)  ;  on  Dan.  xii.  2,  (76)  ;  on  Mai.  v.  1,  (77)  ;  on 
"  wrath  to  come,"  78,  181  ;  on  Matt.  iii.  12,  (78)  ;  v.  22,  (81, 
82)  ;  on  "  entering  the  strait  gate,"  84,  85  ;  on  phrase  "  day 
of  judgment,"  90;  on  -yvx+(  m  Matt.  xvi.  25,  (109)  ;  on  the 
words  of  Christ,  Matt,  xxiii.  37,  (119)  ;  on  the  word  an>\y- 
£aro,  132  ;  on  case  of  Judas,  133,  134  ;  on  Gehenna  of  fire, 
137;  on  phrase  ''world  to  come,"  141  ;  on  the  words,  "ye 
shall  all  likewise  perish,"  145,  146;  on  Acts  i.  25X(171)  ;  on 
the  phrase  "  the  saved,"  175  ;  on  the  terror  of  the  Lord,  188  ; 
on  2  Thess.  ii.  11,  12,  (194)  ;  on  Heb.  xi.  35,  (207)  ;  on  1 
Peter  iv.  17,  18,  (211,  212);  on  the  sin  unto  death,  214, 
215  ;  on  the  beast  mentioned  Rev.  xix.  20,  (221). 

Cobb,  Rev.  S.,  on  destruction  of  soul  and  body  in  Gehenna,  95,  96. 

Cooke,  Rev.  Parsons,  on  Deut.  xxxii.  22,  (57)  ;  adduces  Ps.  ix.  17, 
in  proof  of  endless  punishment,  61  ;  do.  xlix.  14,  15,  (67). 

Cowper,  the  poet,  his  religious  melancholy,  255  ;  produced  by  ter- 
ror of  eternal  judgment,  256. 

Crellius,  on  the  better  resurrection,  Heb.  xi.  35,  (208). 

Cruden,  on  words  eternal,  everlasting,  &c.,  127. 

Davis,  Rev.  J.  M.,  on  Deut.  xxxii.  22,  (57)  ;  adduces  Job  viii.13,  14, 

as  proof  of  endless  punishment,  58;  do.  Ps.  ix.  17,  (61);  do. 

Ps.  xi.  6,  (64)  ;  do.  xvii.  13,  14,  (64)  ;  do.  1.  22,  (67)  ;  do. 

Prov.  i.  26-29,  (70)  ;  do.  xi.  7,  (71). 

Doddridge,  Dr.,  on  the  better  resurrection,  Heb.  xi.  35,  (208). 
Dodds,  Rev.  J.  B.,  on  Matt.  x.  28;  Luke  xii.  4,  5,  (96)  :  on  the  Sec- 

ond Death,  223,  235. 
Donnegan,  otaavrtag  and  ouoiws,  145,  note. 


Edwards,  Dr.  Jonathan,  adduces  Job  via.  13,  14,  as  proof  of  endless 
punishment,  58;  do.  Job  11.  20,  (59)  ;  do.  Ps.  xvii.  13,  14, 
(64)  ;  do.  Prov.  i.  26-29,  (70)  ;  do.  xi.  7,  (71). 
Eleazar,  Rab.,  on  oath  of  God,  33. 
Ely,  Dr.  E.  S.,  adduces  Job  xxi.  30,  as  proof  of  endless  misery,  60  ; 

do.  Ps.  i.  5,  6,  (61)  ;  do.  ix.  17,  (61)  ;  do.  xi.  6,  (64). 
Ely  and  Thomas's  Discussion,  60,  62. 


396  INDEX  OF  AUTHORS. 

Expositor  and  Universalist  Review,  referred  to  and  quoted  from, 
8, 11,  62,  79,  81,  84, 89,  95,  96,  102, 106,  110, 130, 144, 178, 
203,  213,  223,  324  -  328. 

Eusebius's  account  of  two  persons  who  suffered  unquenchable  fire,  79. 

Ferriss,  Walter,  one  of  the  committee  who  formed  Profession  of  Be- 
lief, 17;  drawn  up  by  him,  18. 
Franklin,  Dr.  Benjamin,  his  testimony  to  the  beneficent  tendency  of 

Universalism,  292. 

Fuller,  Andrew,  adduces  Ps.  xvii.  13, 14,  in  favor  of  endless  misery, 
64. 

Gill,  Dr.,  on  phrase  "  wrath  to  come,"  78. 

Grotius,  on  Dan.  xii.  2,  (77) ;  on  a  common  Hebraism,  98;  on  Rev. 
xxii.  18,  19,  (250). 

Hallett,  Mr.,  on  the  better  resurrection,  Heb.  xi.  35,  (208). 
Hammond,  Dr.,  on  the   wrath  to  come,  78  ;  on  unquenchable  fire, 
79;  on  the  judgment  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  90;  on 
the   words  "ye  shall   all  likewise  perish, "145;  on  the 
better  resurrection,  Heb.  xi.  35,  (208)  ;  on  2  Peter  iii. 
7-13,  (213) ;  on  death  being  cast  into  lake  of  fire,  242; 
on  Rev.  xxii.  18,  19,  (249,  250). 
Hanscom,  Rev.  William  C.,  interesting  account  of  his  last  moments, 

and  death,  275,  276. 

Haweis,  Dr.,  on  the  phrase  "judgment  to  come,"  J78. 
Hawes,  Dr.,  [of  Hartford,  Conn.]  his  manner  of  connecting  scriptu- 
ral phraseology,  55  ;  adduces  Job  viii.  13, 14,  as  proof  of  end- 
less punishment,  58;  do.  Job  xi.  20,  (59)  ;  do.  Ps.  ix.  5,  (61); 
do.  ix.  17,  (61)  ;  do.  xi.  6,  (64) ;  do.  xxxvii.  20,  38,  (66)  ;  do. 
1.  22,  (67) ;  do.  Prov.  i.  26-29,  (70)  ;  do.  xi.  7,  (71)  ;  do. 
xxiv.  20,  (72). 

Hay,  P.  Jr.,  on  Matt.  x.  28,  (96). 
Home,  on  the  capital  punishments  of  the  Jews,  214. 

Improved  Version,  authors  of,  on  Rom.  v.  18,  19,  (46). 

Innocent  the  Third,  established  transubstantiation  by  decree,  322. 

Jonathan  Ben  Uzziel,  Targum  of,  referred  to,  94. 
Josephus,  on  awful  punishments  of  Jews  at  destruction  of  their  city, 
205. 

Kenrick,  on  connexion  between  Matt.  xxiv.  and  xxv.  (121);   on 

Matt.  xxv.  13,  (123). 
Kimchi,  on  Isaiah  Ixvi.  24,  (139). 

Lathe,  Z.,  one  of  the  committee  for  forming  Profession  of  Belief,  17. 

Lee,  Luther,  his  view  of  the  penalty  of  the  divine  law,  56 ;  adduces 
Ps.  ix.  17,  in  proof  of  endless  punishment,  61 ;  on  the  end  of  the 
wicked,  69;  adduces  Prov.  i.  26-29,  in  favor  of  endless  pun- 
ishment, 70;  on  Matt.  x.  15,  (89). 

Leigh's  Crit.  Sacr.,  on  the  word  angel,  215. 

Leslie,  Rev.  Charles,  his  "  Short  and  Easy  Method  with  the  Deists," 
347  -  380. 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS.  397 

Lightfoot,  on  the  testimony  of  the  prophets,  38 ;  on  Deul.  xxxii.  22, 
(58)  ;  on  dwelling  with  devouring  fire,  74,  75 ;  on  "  wrath 
to  come,"  78,  Icil  ;  authority  referred  to  on  coming  of 
Christ,  87,  note;  on  end  of  Jewish  age,  106}  on  Isaiah 
Ixvi.  24,  (139) ;  on  Anathema  Maranatha,  186. 
Locke,  on  Anathema  Maranatha,  185. 

Luther,  Martin,  slightly  corrected  the  errors  concerning  the  Eucha- 
rist, 323 ;  disapproved  the  more  scriptural  views  of  Zuin- 
glius  and  others,  324. 

Macknight,  Dr.,  on  phrase  "  of  TroHol,"  45 ;  on  the  word  "  creature," 
in  Rom.  viii.  21,  (47) ;  on  the  phrase  "THE  SAVED,"  175; 
on  1  Peter  iv.  17,  18,  (201) ;  on  angels  who  fell  from 
their  first  estate,  215. 

Magazine  and  Advocate,  quoted  from,  on  Rev.  xxii.  11,  (245). 

Manley,  Rev.  William  E.,  on  Matt.  x.  28,  and  Luke  xii.  4,  5,  (96.) 

Merritt,  Rev.  T.,  controversy  with  Rev.  H.  Ballou,  194. 

Modern  History  of  Universalism,  15. 

Murray,  Rev.  John,  his  last  hour,  274. 

Napoleon's  figure  on  burning  of  Moscow,  242. 

Nevins,  Rev.  S.,  on  the  expression  to  "  see  God,"  209. 

Newcome,  Archbishop,  on  phrase  "  all  things,"  30,  50. 

Noble,  Rev.  S.,  on  connexion  between  Matt.  xxiv.  and  xxv.  (123.) 

Onkelos,  Targum  of,  referred  to,  94. 

Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  how  to  be  understood,  364. 

Owen,  Dr.,  on  Heb.  xi.  35,  (208.) 

Paige,  Rev.  L.  R.,  criticisms  on  Matt.  xvi.  25,  26,  (107) ;  on  John  v. 
28,  29,  (160  -  164) ;  his  Selections  referred  to  and  quoted  from, 
79,  81,  84,  97,  98, 101, 102, 105, 110, 115, 194,  213,  250. 
Parables,  Illustrations  of,  referred  to,  78,  87, 102,  106,  115, 130,  148, 

153. 

Parkhurst,  on  restitution  of  all  things,  36  ;  on  phrases  of  no^oi  and 
Tiuvrag  arftQajnovg,  45 ;  on  Matt.  v.  22,  (81)  ;  on  the  Heb. 
word  Nephish,  107 ;  on  the  Gehenna  of  fire,  137 ;  on  the 
words  oioavrtug  and  o^toiw?,  145 ;  on  the  word  avaOTaai$, 
225. 

Paschasius,  Radbert,  the  first  to  assert  transubstantiation,  321,  322. 
Pearce,  Bishop,  on  phrase  "wrath  to  come,"  78;  on  judgment  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  90 ;   on   connexion   between  Matt, 
xxiv.  and  xxv.,  (121)  ;  on  the  words,  "  ye  shall  all  likewise 
perish,"  145. 

Peirce,  on  Heb.  vi.  2,  (196,  197). 

Photius,  his  condemnation  signed  with  sacramental  wine,  321. 
Phyrrhus,  "  «  "  321. 

Pickering,  Rev.  D.,   his  exposition  of  Heb.  is.  27,  (200) ;  his  Lectures 

on  Divine  Revelation,  346. 
Plutarch,  on  the  lights  used  by  the  Jews,  117. 
Prideaux's  Life  of  Mahomet,  quoted,  363. 

Priestley,  Dr.  Joseph,  on  Acts  i.  25,  (171) ;  his  testimony  to  his  belief 
in  Universalism,  292. 

34 


398  INDEX  OF  AUTHORS. 

Proudfit,  Dr.,  applied  parable  of  Virgins  to  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem, 121. 

Rayner,  Rev.  M.,  his  work  on  parable  of  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus,  154. 
Richards,  G.,  one  of  committee  for  forming  Profession  of  Belief,  17. 
Robinson,  Prof.,  on  the  words  eternal,  eternity,  127. 

Saurin,  his  testimony  to  the  awful  effect  of  believing  in  endless  mis- 
ery, 256. 
Skinner,  Rev.  D.,    his  Bible  Creed,  18. 

"        Rev.  Warren,  on  Second  Death,  223. 

"        Rev.  O.  A.,  his  «  Universalism  Illustrated  and  Defended," 

110,  130, 178. 
Smith,  Rev.  S.  R.,  his  "  Causes  of  Infidelity  Removed,"  347. 

"     T.  S.,  on  phrase  "  everlasting,"  130. 
Stochius,  on  restitution  of  all  things,  36. 
Streeter,  Zebulon,  one  of  committee  for  forming  Profession  of  Belief, 

Strong,  Rev.  Dr.,  adduces  Job  xi.  20,  as  proof  of  endless  punishment, 
59;  do.  xxi.  30,  (60);  do.  xxxi.  3,  (61);  do.  Psalm  i.  5,  6, 
(61) ;  do.  ix.  5,  (61) ;  do.  ix.  17,  (61) ;  do.  xi.  6,  (64) ;  do. 
xvii.  20,  38,  (66) ;  do.  Ixviii.  2,  (68) ;  do.  cxlv.  20,  (69) ;  do. 
Prov.  i.  26-29,  (70);  do.  xi.  7,  (71) ;  do.  xxiv.  20,  (72)  ; 
preached  funeral  sermon  of  Rev.  E.  Winchester,  and  bore 
full  testimony  to  his  excellent  character,  and  constancy  in 
the  faith,  275. 

Stuart,  Prof.,  on  Heb.  ii.  9,  (34) ;  on  TO  nav  or  ra  navra,  49,  50;  on 
the  spiritual  worship  of  Christ,  53  ;  adduces  Psalm  ix.  17,  in 
proof  of  endless  punishment,  61 ;  judicious  remarks  on  Prov. 
v.  5,  (71) ;  on  the  judgment,  Matt.  v.  22,  (83) ;  on  the  word 
everlasting,  126. 

Tenney,  Rev.  Dr.,  his  testimony  in  regard  to  Dr.  Austin,  255. 

Thacher,  Rev.  Moses,  author  of  a  series  of  objections  against  Uni- 
versalism, 273,  note ;  fallen  from  the  clerical  office,  274, 
note. 

Thayer,  Rev.  T.  B  ,  his  Christianity  against  infidelity,  346. 

Theodore,  (Pope,)  mixed  sacramental  wine  with  ink,  to  sign  a  sol- 
emn decree,  321. 

Thomas,  Ev.  A.  C.,  on  the  phrase  "  reserved  to  destruction,"  60. 

Tillotson,  Archbishop,  on  the  parable  of  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus,  150. 

Universalism,  Ancient  History  of,  referred  to,  11 ;  Modern  do.  15, 16. 
Universalist  Expositor,  [See  Expositor  and  Universalist  Review.] 

Wakefield,  on  word  a7r?Jy£aTo,  132  ;  on  Anathema  Maranatha,  185. 

Warburton  on  Psalm  xvii.  13,  14,  (65) ;  on  do.  xlix.  14, 15,  (67) ;  on 
Prov.  xi.  7,  (72) ;  do.  xiv.  32,  (72). 

Whilby,  on  Rom.  xi.  36,  (47) ;  on  being  in  kingdom  of  heaven,  with 
Abraham,  &c.,  88  ;  on  enduring  to  the  end,  91,  92 ;  on  the 
phrase  "  this  generation,"  118  ;  on  the  phrase  "  worm  dieth 
not,"  138;  on  aiwvio?,  eternal,  127;  on  Rom.  ii.  (180)  ;  on 
the  punishment  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  218,  219 ;  on 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS.  399 

[Whitby,]  by  Rev.  xx.  4,  (239) ;  on  parable  of  Rich  Man  and  Laza 

rus,  150  ;  on  the  phrase  "  TO.  8ia  TOV  owfiaTog,"  187. 
White,  Rev.  Thomas,  on  Rorn.  viii.  21,  (46). 
Williamson,  Rev.  I.  D.,  his  Argument  for  Christianity,  347. 
Winchester,  Elhanan,  his  Dialogues,  130 ;  an  account  of  his  last  mo- 
ments, 274 ;  testimony  to  the  excellence  of  his  charac- 
ter, by  Dr.  Strong,  275. 
Witsius,  on  2  Peter  iii.  7  - 13,  (213). 

Young,  Dr.  E.,  extract  from,  23 ;  exultation  on  destruction  of  death, 
243. 

Zuinglius,  took  the  proper  ground  in  regard  to  the  Eucharist,  323  j  a 
man  of  capacious  mind,  324. 


(400) 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS 


Page 

Gen.  ii.  17, 

56 

Josh,  xviii.  16, 

iii.  15, 

38 

xxiv.    1, 

iv.  16, 

68,  191 

1  Sam.   ii.    8, 

vi.    3, 

57 

xx.  32, 

xii.    3, 

30 

xxxi.  16, 

xiii.  15, 

127 

2  Sam.  vii.  16, 

xvii.    1, 

19 

xix.  28, 

8,          74, 

127,  193,  216 

xxiv.  14, 

xxii.  18, 

30,  31,  33 

1  Kings  ii.  19, 

xxvi.  3,  4, 

31 

viii.  51, 

xxviii.  14, 

31 

xiv.    6, 

xlviii.    4, 

74,193,216 

7', 

xlix.  10, 

29 

xvi.    1, 

26,          74, 

127,  193,  216 

2, 

36, 

127 

xvii.  21, 

Exodus  iii.  6, 

156 

2  Kings  iv.  34, 

xv.  7-10, 

66 

viii.    4, 

10, 

128 

xxiii.  10, 

xviii.  12, 

241 

xxiv.  20, 

xxviii.  29,  30, 

268 

I  Chron.  xvi.  27, 

xxxii.  10, 

210 

33, 

13, 

33 

xvii.  14, 

xxxiii.    3, 

210 

xxiii.    4, 

14,  15, 

68 

Neh.  viii.  15, 

14-17, 

191 

Job  iii. 

xl.  15, 

74,193,216 

viii.  13,  14, 

Levit.    xvi.  34, 

74,  193,  216 

xi.    1, 

xxvi.  39, 

225 

20, 

Numb.  viii.  17,  18, 

354 

xx.  4-28, 

xv.  30, 

'    204 

5-7, 

xxi.    8, 

190 

29, 

9, 

354 

xxi.  30, 

xxv.  13, 

74,193,216 

xxiii.  13, 

xxvii.  21, 

355 

xxiv.  18, 

xxxv.  25, 

356 

xxvii.    8, 

26, 

356 

13-23, 

Josh.  iii.    5, 

359 

xxviii.    3, 

15, 

359 

xxxi.    3, 

iv.    6, 

358 

xxxvi.  13, 

18, 

360 

xlii.    6, 

xv.    8, 

137 

Psalms  i.  3, 

Page 

137 

241 

75 

214 

214 

127 

214 

206 

209 

105 

214 

76 

76 

75 

207 

207 

354 

137 

192 

68 

68 

127 

355 

318 

133 

58 

59 

59 

65 

59 

65 

60, 181 
26 
65 
60 
61 
88 
61 
181 
75 
20 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


401 


Psalms  i.  5,  6, 

61 

Prov.         xi.  10, 

66 

ii.    8, 

25,266 

•  S>  74 

,163,176,212 

ix.    5, 

61 

xii.  28, 

85 

17, 

61,62 

xiii.  15, 

21 

xi.    6, 

64 

xiv.  32, 

72 

xvi.    5, 

65 

xxiii.  14, 

71 

xvii.  13,  14, 

64 

xxiv.  20, 

72 

xxii.  27, 
xxxvii.  38, 

38,  269 
66 

33,34, 
xxix.    1, 

75 
73 

xliv.  25, 

75 

Eccles.      iii.  20, 

264 

xlix.  14,  15, 

67 

vii.  20, 

263 

1.22, 

67 

xii.  13, 

22 

Iviii.  11, 

73,  91,  176 

73 

Ixviii.    2, 
Ixxii.  11,  17, 

68 
38 

Isaiah          i.  18*, 
31, 

39,98 
139 

Ixxiii. 

68,69 

ii.    2 

39 

26, 

65 

ix.    2, 

88 

Ixxxv.  10, 

19 

xiii.    9, 

181 

Ixxxvi.    9, 

38,  269 

19, 

220 

12,  13, 
Ixxxix.  30  -  35, 

63 
21 

xiv.    4, 
9, 

152 
152 

xcv.    2, 

68 

10, 

152 

7-11, 

176 

24, 

29 

xcvi.  10-13, 

177 

27; 

29 

xcvii.    5, 

68 

xvii.  13, 

65 

xcviii.  4-9, 

177 

14, 

65 

c.    2, 

68 

xxv.    6. 

39 

ciii.    8,9, 

39 

7 

40 

cix.  25, 

75 

8 

40 

cxiii.    7, 

75 

12, 

75,76 

cxiv.    7, 

68 

xx  vi.    5. 

75,76 

cxvi.    3, 

63 

9 

176 

cxix.  57, 

65 

19, 

75 

66, 

20 

xxviii.  15. 

233 

67, 

21 

is; 

233 

cxxxvi. 

38 

xxix.  10, 

76 

cxlii.    5, 

65 

xxx.    8, 

238 

cxlv.    8, 

39 

xxxi.    9, 

74,  77,  105 

9, 

19,39 

xxxiii.  14, 

74 

20,' 
cxlvii.    5, 
Prov.     i.  20, 

39 
69 
19 
70 

xxxiv.  8-10, 
10, 
xl.    5, 
xiii.    4, 

234,  238 
139 
40 
176 

Sr29' 

70 

7 

88 

..   32, 

70 

xliii.  16, 

88 

iii.  17, 

21 

xiv.  21, 

19 

v.    5' 

21,85 
71 

23,24, 
xlvi.  10, 

22,  33,  269 
29 

vi.  9-11, 

75 

11, 

29 

viii.  35, 

85 

xlvii.    1, 

75,76 

ix.  18, 

71 

xlviii.  10, 

105 

x.17, 

85 

xlix.    6, 

41 

24, 

54 

8, 

„     176 

xi.    7, 

71 

li.  17 

76 

34* 

402 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


Isaiah  lii.    2, 

75,  76 

Ezek. 

liii.  10, 

28 

xxx  vi.  2, 

219 

11, 

20,  35,  266 

xxxvii.    3  -  14, 

226 

liv.  7,  8, 

21 

11-14, 

162 

Iv.  10,  11, 

24,  29,  40 

xliii.    8, 

210 

Ivii.  16, 

41,57 

Dan.       ii.  44, 

229 

16-18, 

21 

iv.  15,  23, 

65 

20,  21, 

21 

35, 

26,  267 

Iviii.  12, 
Ixv.  17-21, 

219 
138 

vii.    9-14, 
14, 

229 
42 

Ixvi.  22, 

138 

viii.  26, 

246 

24, 

138 

xii.    1, 

231 

Jer.     iv.    4, 

139,  190 

2,     75,  222,  225,  231 

26, 

68 

1-3, 

76 

vii.  1-7, 

238 

3, 

128 

20, 

139 

4, 

246 

29  -  34, 

118 

5-11, 

231,  232 

31-34, 

82,  137 

7, 

76 

viii.  20, 

102 

?> 

246 

ix.  16, 

210 

10,  11, 

76 

xi.    4, 

105 

12,  13, 

246 

xiv.  12, 

66,  210 

Hosea  xiii.    9, 

73 

xvii.    4,  27, 

139 

14, 

42 

xviii.  15,  16, 

219 

Joel        ii.    1, 

86,  216,  217 

xix.    1-15, 

118 

2, 

86 

8, 

82 

iii.  13, 

102 

8-12, 

137 

Amos    ix.    3, 

233 

12, 

82 

Jonah       i.    3, 

68,  191 

xx.  14  -  18, 

133 

10, 

68 

xxi.  12, 

190 

ii.    2, 

63 

xxiii.  39,  40, 

192,  219 

Micah    iv.    5, 

128 

xxv.    5, 

238 

vi.    8, 

24 

9, 

219 

vii.  18, 

42 

xxxi.  33,  34, 

41,  270 

Nahum  iii.  18, 

75,76 

xlviii.  45, 

190 

Hab.      iii.    6,    74, 

129,  193,  216 

1.40, 

220 

Zeph.      i.    8-18, 

180,  181 

li.  39, 

219 

12-18, 

86 

Lam.     ii.    3,  4, 

190 

14, 

217 

Hi.  11, 

68 

ii.    9, 

219 

24, 

65 

Zech.  xiii.    1  -  8, 

176 

31,  32, 

21 

xiv.    6-9, 

176 

31-33, 

42,  128 

Malachi  ii.  10, 

19,24 

iv.    6, 

90 

iii.    2, 

176 

xx.  47,  48, 

139 

iv.    ], 

77 

Ezek.  vii.    1  -  15, 

69 

1,5, 

222 

xviii.    4, 

24 

Matt.      ii.  10, 

.       94 

xxii.  17-22, 

74,77,105,222 
234,  243 

iii.    2, 

7, 

80,  90,  136 
77,181,195 

xxiv.  23, 

225 

12, 

78,139,243 

xxvi.  20,  21, 

219 

iv.  17, 

80,  136,  176 

xxxi.  15  -  18, 

151 

v.  20, 

80,  109 

xxxiii.  10, 

225 

22, 

81,  83,  137 

11^ 

28,225 

29,  30, 

81,  84,  135 

xxxv.    9, 

219 

44; 

27,  284,  289 

INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


403 


Matt.      v.  48, 

284,  289 

Matt.  xix.  28,                   130,  240 

vi.  10, 

25 

29,                           140 

25, 

94 

xx.  20-23,                   209 

25-34, 

43,258 

xxi.  40,                           167 

vii.  13, 

84 

xxii.    7,           104,115,167 

14, 

84 

11-13,                   115 

21, 

87 

13,                   117,  243 

22,  23, 

85 

29,                           155 

24-27, 

87 

30,        37,44,155,271 

viii.  11, 

87,  147 

xxiii.  13,                     44,  1^9 

12, 

87,  117 

15,                             «1 

21-23, 

116 

32,                           181 

ix.  37,  38, 

102 

33,             81,  118,  195 

x.    7, 

80,136 

34,                           118 

15, 

89 

35,                           211 

22, 

91 

36,           188,  189,  273 

23, 

126,  273 

37,                          118 

28, 

81,92,94,95 

39,                          119 

39, 

106 

xxiv.    3,                           103 

xi.  23, 

153 

6,                          103 

22-24, 

96 

9,                          211 

28-30, 

21 

13,            92,  103,  120 

xii.22-32, 

97 

14,                          103 

28, 

80,  136 

15,                     76,  232 

31,  32, 

97,  134 

15-21,                   120 

32, 

100,  141 

16,                           232 

36, 

102 

16-18,                   191 

41,42, 

102 

21,         76,118,211,231 

xiii.  32, 

142 

22,                           211 

37-43, 

102-106 

24,                   168,  372 

39, 

273,  103 

30,                   104,  190 

40, 

103,142,273 

31,                           104 

42, 

117,  222,  243 

32,                             92 

47-50, 

106 

32-34,                   120 

49, 

142,273 

33,                            92 

50, 
xvi.    6, 

117,243 
43 

34,   103,104,188,189, 
190,  191,  273 

12, 

43 

36,                           120 

18, 

153 

40-44,                   120 

23, 

133 

42,                           121 

25, 

109 

51,                     65,  117 

25,26, 

106 

xxv.  1-13,            120-130 

27, 

21 

13,                   121,123 

27,28, 

104,  120,  121, 

14-30,                   123 

163,  182,  188, 

30,                          117 

xviii.    3, 

189,  222,  272 
109,  182 

31,  104,124,188,189, 
222,  240,  272 

9, 

81,135 

32,                           241 

10, 

209 

41,           128,129,222 

15, 

342 

42,                           123 

11: 

342 
342 

46,    124,128,129,163 
xxvi.  14-16,            130,132 

32-35, 

110 

24,                   130,  133 

xix.  23,  24, 

112 

47-50,                   130 

404 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


Matt.  xxvi.  56,                         131 

Luke  xvii.  19,  20, 

80,  136 

69-75,                  131 

30,  31, 

190 

xxvii.  3-5,                     131 

xviii.    2-5, 

111 

5,                        132 

7,8, 

191 

24,                        131 

17, 

109,  154 

52,53,                   162 

24,25, 

154 

xxviii.  18,                          42 

29,  30, 

140 

20,                         362 

35,  36, 

154,  156 

Mark       iii.  29,           97,  100,  134 

xx.  35,  36, 

37,  44,  163 

iv.  19,                         142 

xxi.  22, 

191 

vi.  11,                         135 

34, 

86 

•     viii.  35-37,          106,  135 

xxii.  19, 

318 

38,        104,  120,  125, 
189,  190,  339 

John      iii.    3, 
7, 

157 
157 

ix.    1,        104,  120,  125, 

16 

27 

189,  190 

35 

20,25 

43-48,  81,84,135,139 

36, 

159 

x.  15,                 109,  140 

iv.  34, 

26 

24,  25,           112,  140 

42, 

35,36 

29,  30,                   140 

v.22, 

91 

xii.  24,  25,                   155 

24, 

129,  140 

29,                         119 

25, 

269 

xiii.    3,                          91 

28,29, 

160,  222,  225 

12,  13,                   211 

230,  269 

xiv.  21,                 130,  142 

vi.  37, 

20,  25,  30,  266 

xvi.  16,  17,  18,             143 

39, 

30 

Luke         i.    6,                        241 

53-60, 

345 

ii.  10,                    -      35 

63, 

345 

iii.    7,                  77,143 

70, 

132 

17,           78,  139,  143 

vii.  34, 

164 

23-38,                   38 

viii.  21, 

164,214 

iv.  22,                           43 

24, 

214 

vi.  35,                           27 

56, 

176 

vii.  50,                         174 

ix.  39, 

73,  91,  177 

ix.  24,  25,           106,  143 

xi.  11-14, 

75 

26,27,  104,120,125, 

xii.  31, 

73,  91,  176 

190,  272 

32, 

29,  35,  266 

x.  12-15,                 143 

48, 

166 

15,                         153 

xiii.  33,  36, 

165 

xi.  31,  32,                   144 

xiv.    1  , 

166 

xii.    4,                   92,144 

2,3, 

166 

5,             81,92,144 

27,28, 

166 

10,                         144 

xvi.    2, 

111 

46,                          65 

xvii.    2, 

20,25 

xiii.  3-5,              144,  145 

3, 

141 

24,                           84 

4, 

267 

28,  29,           117,  146 

6-19, 

169 

34,35,    112,118,148 

9, 

168 

xiv.  12-14,                  148 

12; 

132,  169 

16-24,                 115 

20, 

169 

xv.  11,                           66 

xviii.  20, 

362 

xvi.    8,                         142 

31, 

228 

19-31,                 148 

xix.    7, 

228 

xvii.    3,4,                    342 

xxi.  22,  23, 

120,  125,  273 

INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


405 


Acts        i.  10,  11, 

3G 

Romans  x.  27,  28,  29, 

204 

18, 

132 

xi.  24-27, 

235 

24 

171 

25,26, 

47,  129 

25, 

133,  170,  171 

26,  27         52 

,119,165 

ii.  16-20, 

217 

32, 

89,165 

36, 

19 

36, 

47 

41, 

362 

xii.    2, 

142 

47, 

175 

xiii.  11, 

122 

iii.20,  21, 

22,  36,  37 

xiv.    7,8, 

47 

25,26, 

32 

8,9, 

247 

iv.    4, 

362 

9, 

48 

20, 

367 

10, 

186 

x.  10-15, 

45 

17, 

182 

33, 

68 

xvi.  25, 

197 

xi.    5-10, 

45 

25,26, 

129 

xiii.  44,  45, 

194 

1  Cor.     i.  18, 

175 

48, 

171 

vi.    9,11, 

182 

49,50, 

194 

viii.    5,  6, 

19 

xiv.    2, 

194 

x.  11,    92,100, 

103,  142, 

19, 

194 

273 

xvi.  30, 

173 

xi.20-22, 

183 

xvii.    5, 

194 

24-27, 

183 

5-7, 

189 

26, 

319,  343 

11-13, 

194 

29, 

183,196 

26, 

19,23 

34, 

196 

30,31, 

175 

xii.    3, 

185 

xviii.  12,  13, 

194 

xv.    2, 

174 

xix.  32, 

332 

22,      20,  48, 

157,  183, 

33, 

194 

264 

xxiii.  14, 

184 

24, 

230 

xxiv.  25, 

178 

24-28, 

20 

Romans  i.  18, 

179 

26, 

48 

21-32, 

180 

28,     54,  183,  272,  341 

ii.    3-6, 

178 

34, 

76 

4, 

20 

42-44, 

49,264 

5, 

191 

42-57, 

163 

69, 

21 

44-46, 

108 

24, 

180 

49, 

37,  157 

iii.    3,4, 

270 

51,           157 

,  247,  264 

10 

263 

52, 

264,272 

iv.22, 

34 

54, 

40,42 

v.18 

45 

55, 

42,272 

19, 

45,  46 

58, 

308 

20, 

46,  170 

2  Cor.     ii.  15, 

175 

21, 

46 

v.  10, 

186,  188 

vi.  23, 

45 

17 

30,48 

viii.    6, 

85 

19, 

49 

21, 

46 

vi.    2, 

176 

ix.    3 

184 

Gal.         i.    4, 

254 

x.    9 

50 

8,9, 

185 

23 

203 

iii.    8, 

32 

25 

203 

16 

31 

26, 

203 

21, 

32 

26-31, 

203 

28,29, 

49 

406 

INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 

Gal.       iv.  18, 

303   Heb.      vi.    5. 

142 

v.  19-21, 

189 

13 

33 

vi.  10, 

22 

18, 

33,51 

Eph.        i.    9,10, 

29 

viii.    8-11, 

129 

11, 

19,30 

10-12, 

120 

21, 

142 

11, 

51,  270 

ii.    7, 

101 

ix.    7,  9, 

201 

8, 

174 

11, 

200 

v.    5, 

189 

12, 

202 

14, 

76 

14,  15, 

200 

Phil.       ii.    9-11, 

49,  183 

22; 

201 

10,11, 

20 

24-28, 

201 

11, 

270 

26,    100, 

103,  142,  273 

iv.    3, 

243 

27,  28, 

200,  268 

Col.         i.  13, 

88 

x.    4, 

20 

19,20, 

50 

7 

267 

iii.  25, 

21 

9 

36 

1  Thess.  ii.  15, 

189 

23 

339 

16, 

181 

25, 

168 

iv.  16, 

36 

xi.  35, 

207 

v.    2,6, 
4, 

122 

86 

36,  38, 
xii.    5-11, 

339 

207 

23, 

95,  108 

7-11 

21 

2  Thess.  i.   7, 

104 

10,  11, 

52 

7-10, 

189 

11 

128 

ii.    8, 

210 

14, 

208 

11-12, 

194 

29, 

209 

1  Tim.     i.    9, 

174 

James      i.  25, 

21 

15, 

52 

27 

22 

ii.    1, 

26 

iii.    Q\ 

81 

1-6. 

50 

15 

108 

4, 

19,  25,  267 

17, 

27 

5,6, 

19,  34,  202 

v.    7,8, 

185 

iv.  10, 

21,50 

1  Peter    i.    8, 

255 

v.    8, 

76 

13, 

191 

vi.  12, 

339 

iii.  21, 

175 

2  Tim.    i.    9, 

197 

iv.  13, 

191 

10, 

20 

16,  17,  18. 

91,196, 

iii.  16. 

22 

211 

iv.    1, 

24 

2  Peter    i.  16,  18,  19. 

368 

Titus       i.    2, 

197 

21, 

22 

ii.  11,12, 

20,51 

ii.    3, 

217 

iii.    8, 

20,  174 

4,9, 

213 

Heb.        i.    3, 

209 

213,  236 

ii.    3, 

195 

iii.    7-13, 

213 

142 

10, 

244 

9| 

20,  34,  202 

1  John    i.    7, 

35,367 

14, 

38,51 

7, 

52 

iii.    3, 

21 

7-9, 

98 

8,9, 

176 

ii.    2, 

20,  34,  202 

iv.    3, 

51 

18, 

168,  273 

12, 

95,  108 

iii.    7, 

263 

vi.    2, 

196 

8, 

38,52 

4-6, 

197    200 

14, 

85,141 

INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


407 


1  John 


Jude 


Rev. 


Q  iv.    8, 

19,26 

Rev.      xv.  6, 

248 

10, 

288 

7,8, 

249 

11' 

20,288 

xvi.    2,3,4, 

249 

14, 

20,36 

8, 

249 

16, 

19 

9, 

248,249 

18, 

254 

10,11, 

249 

19, 

20,288 

12-16, 

249 

v.  11, 

52 

14, 

392 

14, 

54 

17-21, 

241 

16, 

214 

xviii.    4,8, 

248 

24, 

129 

xix.    1,4, 

338 

4,  5,  6,  7, 

217,218 

8 

116 

7' 
13', 

215 
127,  218 

220,236 

20, 
21, 

220,221,236, 
242,  372 
236 

19, 

108 

xx.    1,4, 

239 

i.    1-13, 

247 

5, 

76 

ii.    1,8, 

215 

6, 

220,  242 

H, 

220 

7 

239 

12,  18, 

215 

8, 

239 

iii.    1, 

76 

10,    220,236,222,242 

5, 

243 

11, 

239 

iv.  11, 

28 

12, 

76,243 

v.13, 

53 

12-15, 

238 

vi.    8, 

228 

13, 

76,  242 

17, 
vii.  13,  14, 

91,  217 
116 

14, 
15, 

153,  220,  241 
2-20,  243 

ix.  20, 

248 

xxi.    1,2, 

240,  244 

xi.    6, 

248 

3,4, 

53,244 

31, 

91 

8, 

220,  242,  245 

xiii.    8, 

243 

24, 

175 

U, 

372 

27, 

243 

xiv.    7, 

91 

xxii.  10, 

246 

9-11, 

236 

11 

245 

10,  11, 

238 

12, 

246 

15, 

102 

18, 

248 

XV.     1, 

248 

19, 

243,  248 

4, 

53 

20, 

250 

(403) 


INDEX  OF  GREEK  PHRASES. 


"AyyiXag,   215. 

xgifftuf,  135. 

«<yy,  103,  128,  142,  273. 

a  UMO.  (it;  Toy),  100,  219. 

prnftii*,  162. 

auvts,    128. 

a  uiviov  VTUP,  242. 

«   !TOXXo/,   45. 

««i»w,  127,  128,  197,  219. 

o^o/W,   145. 

a  MOV  x{ifias,  135. 

OVttdlffftOV  KIUVIOV,   219. 

«y«o-Tao-/y,  225. 

OW  X«TO/X»jS-»0'£Ta/    £/J    TOV   aiMVCt 

uvutrraiffis  <ruv  vsxguv,  162,  225. 

voy,  219,  220. 

&»ifrnfu,  225. 

awny&ro,  132. 

wayra;  etvfyvroos,  45. 

awoxaTao-Taovj,  37. 

sry£w>«,  95,  1O7. 

afffiiffrof,  139. 

TvtVftanxiy,  95  note. 

5TW£/   KtrfiiffTlf,   79. 

7«yya,  81,  136. 

yssyyav  TOW  TTVOO^  136* 

o*wyTjXf/a  TOW  aiuvof,  103. 

ffvpypet  aluvtevf  219. 

^/«/3oXof,  132. 

o-w^a,  94,  95. 

ffUftKTog  (TO,  5<a  TOW),  187. 

iy^0"'"*  162. 

"          (T«  J^or  TOW),  187. 

e/f  tgtiftov  tt'ituviov,  219. 

£/?  TO»  K'I&JVX,  100. 

T«   <T«yT*,    47,   49. 

!x*X»;<r/«,  332. 

Ta   T£X»   T(£ry  UIUVUV,    103. 

ij^<«y  uiuviov,  219. 

M-£A$oyT£f,    162. 

wsryoy  a^y/ay,  219. 

iSf»,  162. 


,  208. 


94,  95,  107,  108,  109. 

OV,  95  note. 
OS,  108  note. 


vraj,  145. 


,   196,  211. 


GENERAL 

UNIVERSALIST  BOOKSTORE. 


THOMAS     WHITTEMORE, 

GIVES  notice  to  the  Public,  and  to  the  Universalist  denomination 
in  particular,  that  he  will  continue  the  BOOK-SELLING  business 
as  heretofore,  at  37  Cornhill,  (lower  floor)  directly  opposite  the  for- 
mer office  of  the  Trumpet. 

It  will  be  the  aim  of  T.  W.  to  keep  a  general  assortment  of  Universalist 
Books  ;  and  although  he  will  be  able  to  supply  purchasers  with  general  and 
miscellaneous  Works,  yet  his  chief  attention  will  be  devoted  to  Universalist 
Works,  of  which  may  be  found  at  his  Store  every  variety  to  be  had  in  the 
United  States. 

He  will  keep  a  large  assortment  of  BIBLES — quartos  for  pulpits  and  fami- 
lies ;  octavos,  duodecimos  'and  tuck  Bibles,  elegantly  bound,  for  the  pocket, 
and  for  use  in  pews.  Prices  range  from  $20  dollars  to  20  cents. 

SABBATH  SCHOOL  BOOKS  of  every  variety,  warranted  free  from  the 
contaminating  influence  of  partialism,  always  on  hand. 


Universalist's  Guide. 

The  Plain  Guide  to  Universalisrn — Designed  to  lead  Inquirers  to  the  belief 
of  that  doctrine,  and  Believers  to  the  practice  of  it.  By  Thomas  Whittemore. 
This  work  consists  of  408  pages,  handsomely  bound  ;  and  will  be  sold  at  the 
low  price  of  One  Dollar  a  copy. 

I.  It  gives  a  brief  history  of  the  doctrine  from  the  earliest  ages,  and  notices 
of  its  most  eminent  defenders. 

II.  It  clearly  and  particularly  sets  forth  the  sentiments  of  Universalists. 

HI.  It  gives  the  evidences  of  Universalism  as  contained  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, by  which  it  is  infallibly  proved  that  said  doctrine  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
Bible. 

IV.  and  V.  It  explains  all  the  principal  passages,  both  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  which  have  been  used  to  disprove  Universalism,  amounting  to  up- 
wards of  One  Hundred  and  Thirty,  in  which  all  the  different  subjects  are  dis- 
cussed, whereon  light  is  so  much  needed, — such  as  the  words  rendered  'Hell,' 
the  '  Lake  of  Fire,'  the  '  Furnace  of  Fire,'  *  Unquenchable  Fire,'  *  Everlasting 
Fire,'  *  Everlasting  Destruction,'  '  Eternal  Judgment,'  '  Coming  forth  from  the 
Graves  to  condemnation,'  the  'Sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,'  «  Day  of  Judg- 
ment,' '  Destruction  of  the  Soul,'  '  Kingdom  of  Heaven,'  &c.  &c. 

VI.  It  answers  the  common  objections  to  Universalism. 

VII.  It  points  out  the  moral  tendency  of  Universalism,  and  the  duties  of 
those  who  believe  in  that  benign  and  heart-cheering  sentiment. 


2  Works  published  by  Thomas  Whittemore,  Boston. 

VIII.  It  furnishes  a  Constitution  for  Universalist  Societies,  and  advice  in  re- 
gard to  the  formation  and  management  of  the  same  ;  showing  the  only  way  in 
which  they  can  enjoy  prosperity.     It  also  gives  all  the  laws  of  the  Common- 
wealth in  regard  to  religious  societies. 

IX.  It  gives  directions  in  regard  to  the  formation  of  Churches, — presents  a 
plan  of  church  government, — gives  scriptural  views  of  the   Lord's  Supper, — 
and  a  form  of  the  administration  of  that  service,  for  the  benefit  of  young  cler- 
gymen. 

X.  This  chapter  is  on  the  evidences  of  revealed  religion  ;  and  presents  en- 
tire that  masterly  work,  which  has  never  been  answered,  and  never  can  be  re- 
futed,  Leslie's  '  Short  Method  with  the  Deists.'     Never  but  one  infidel  at- 
tempted to  answer  it,  and  he  gave  up  the  task  in  despair. 


Hell  Torments  Overthrown. 

The  Doctrine  of  Eternal  Hell  Torments  Overthrown — in  three  parts — 1 .  Of 
the  Torments  of  Hell,  the  foundation  and  pillars  thereof  searched,  discovered, 
shaken  and  removed,  &c.  2.  An  article  from  the  Harleian  Miscellany  on 
Universalism.  3.  Dr.  Hartley's  Defence  of  Universalism.  Pages  168.  Price 
37  1-2  cents. 

As  every  person  before  he  buys  a  book  wishes  to  know  what  he  shall  find 
in  it,  we  here  give  the  contents  of  the  work  :  Chap.  1.  sec.  1.  Of  Christ's  de- 
scending into  Hell.  2.  Of  Hell  Fire.  Matt.  v.  22.  3.  Of  the  word  everlast- 
ing. 4.  The  story  of  Dives.  Luke  xvi.  19-31.  5.  OfTophet.  6.  Of  Isa. 
Ixvi.  24.  7.  Of  Matt.  v.  26.  8.  Of  burning  the  Tares.  9.  Of  the  Wrath  to 
come.  10.  Of  the  word  cursed.  11.  Of  eternal  damnation.  12.  Of  the 
word  reprobate.  Chap.  II.  Ten  opinions  of  the  learned  of  the  place  of  Hell 
considered.  Chap.  III.  Proofs  of  Endless  Hell  Torments  examined.  Chap. 
IV.  The  Seven  Pillars  of  Hell  shaken  and  removed.  Chap.  V.  Several  con- 
siderations showing  that  there  is  not  to  be  a  punishment  after  this  life  that  shall 
never  end.  Chap.  VI.  Many  infallible  proofs  that  there  is  not  to  be  a  punish- 
ment after  this  life,  never  to  end. 


Paige's  Questions, 


For  Sunday  Schools  and  Bible  Classes.  Questions  on  Select  Portions  of  the 
Gospels  ;  designed  for  the  use  of  Sabbath  Schools  and  Bible  Classes.  By 
Rev.  Lucius  R.  Paige.  Price  25  cents  single,  $2,50  per  dozen. 


New  Sunday  School  Book. 

The  Bible  Class  Assistant,  or  Scriptural  Guide  for  Sunday  Schools,  being 
Sketches  of  the  Antiquities,  Customs  and  Manners  of  the  Jews,  in  illustration 
of  Scripture,  designed  for  the  use  of  Teachers,  Bible  Classes,  and  the  Higher 
Classes  in  Sunday  Schools.  By  Rev.  Thomas  B.  Thayer,  pastor  of  the  First 
Universalist  Society  in  Lowell,  Mass.  This  book  is  on  a  new  plan,  suggested 
to  its  author  by  his  experience  in  conducting  Sunday  Schools  and  Bible  Classes. 


Works  published  by  Thomas  Whiltemore,  Boston.  3 

It  is  not  a  book  of  questions  merely,  but  each  chapter  consists  of  two  parts, — 
1st.  The  history  to  which  the  questions  refer,  is  succinctly  given,  which  is  to 
be  faithfully  studied  ;  and  2d,  the  Questions.  We  have  examined  this  work, 
and  commend  it  ;  but  any  formal  commendation  is  rendered  quite  unnecessa- 
ry by  the  well  known  reputation  of  its  author.  Price  25  cts.  single,  $2,50  per 
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Life  of  Rev.  John  Murray. 

The  Life  of  Rev.  John  Murray,  preacher  of  Universal  Salvation.  With 
Notes  and  Appendix.  By  Thomas  Whittemore. 

This  edition  is  from  the  original  edition  published  by  Mrs.  Murray,  and  is 
much  enlarged  with  copious  Notes,  found  in  no  other  edition,  and  an  Appen- 
dix, containing  certain  historical  documents,  and  large  extracts  from  Mr.  Mur- 
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and  Winchester.  Price  50  cts. 


Ballou's  Latest  Work. 

An  Examination  of  the  Doctrine  of  Future  Retribution,  on  the  principles  of 
Morals,  Analogy  and  the  Scriptures.  Dedicated  to  the  Second  Universalist 
Society  in  Boston.  By  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou.  Price  50  cents.  The  usual  dis- 
count at  wholesale. 

This  work  is  a  calm  and  fair  discussion  of  the  doctrine  of  future  punishment. 
It  is  examined  first  on  the  principles  of  Morals,  2d  on  Analogy,  3d  as  it  relates 
to  the  Scriptures.  The  parable  of  the  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus,  and  the  passage 
Matt.  x.  28,  are  explained.  At  the  end  of  the  work,  Mr.  Ballou's  desultory 
articles  and  miscellaneous  correspondence  on  the  subject  may  be  found.  He 
has  arranged  the  subject  as  he  wishes  to  leave  it  to  the  consideration  of  future 
generations. 


Paige's  Selections, 


Selections  from  Eminent  Commentators  who  have  believed  in  punishment 
after  death  ;  wherein  they  have  agreed  with  Universalists  in  the  interpretation 
of  Scriptures  relating  to  punishment.  By  Rev.  Lucius  R.  Paige.  Second 
edition,  revised  and  enlarged.  Price  $1. 

This  is  a  highly  valuable  work  to  all  Universalists.  It  proves  by  the  most 
respectable  orthodox  authority,  that  the  interpretations  which  Universalista 
have  given  of  the  passages  of  Scripture  which  relate  to  punishment,  are  cor- 
rect. For  sale  on  the  very  lowest  terms,  by  Thomas  Whittemore. 


Danvers  Discussion. 

A  full  Report  of  the  Discussion  -which  took  place  in  the  orthodox  meeting 
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more, containing  96  octavo  pages.  Price  25  cts.  single — $2,25  per  dozen. 

Second  edition. 


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Practical  Hints  to  Universalists. 

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the  Gospel  of  Universal  Grace  and  Salvation.  By  John  G.  Adams.  *  For  as 
the  body  without  the  spirit  is  dead,  so  faith  without  works  is  dead  also.'  Price 
75  cts»  This  work  is  rich  in  Christian  reflections  and  exhortations.  It  is  beau- 
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Songs  of  Zion. 

Just  published,  and  for  sale,  by  T.  Whittemore,  37  Cornhill,  the  new  Book 
of  Psalmody,  entitled  '  Songs  of  Zion,'  or  the  Cambridge  Collection  of  Sacred 
Music,  designed  for  the  Church,  for  the  Social  Meetings  of  Christians,  and  for 
Family  Worship  :  Comprising  a  rich  variety  of  the  most  popular  tunes,  an- 
thems, &c.  with  many  pieces  from  various  authors,  never  before  published, 
written  expressly  for  this  work  ;  arranged  with  a  figured  bass  for  the  Organ 
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Singing,  designed  for  the  aid  of  those  who  are  entirely  unacquainted  with  the 
science  of  music  :  the  instructions  being  reduced  to  great  plainness  and  simpli- 
city. By  Thomas  Whittemore.  Sixth  Edition,  enlarged  and  revised,  con- 
taining additional  anthems  for  Temperance  celebrations.  The  last  edition  with 
the  Pestalozzian  system  of  instruction.  It  contains  upwards  of  300  tunes,  and 
over  100  pages  of  anthems.  Neither  expense  nor  pains  have  been  spared  to 
render  the  work  complete.  Price  $1. 


Trumpet  and  Universalist  Magazine. 

Published  in  Boston,  37  Cornhill.     Edited  by  T.  Whittemore. 

The  objects  of  this  publication  are, — 1st.  To  support  the  doctrine  of  Uni- 
versal Salvation  ; — 2d.  To  illustrate  the  sacred  Scriptures  ; — 3d.  To  expose 
the  exclusive  and  threatening  measures  of  certain  sects  amongst  us  ; — and,  4th. 
To  furnish  a  summary  of  current  news.  The  Editor  intends  to  make  this  pa- 
per a  picture  of  the  denomination  of  Universalists,  so  that  the  attentive  reader 
may  be  said  to  know  everything  of  importance  which  is  passing  in  relation  to 
this  class  of  Christians.  Sermons  from  distinguished  individuals  will  occasion- 
ally be  inserted,  as  will  criticisms  on  disputed  words,  and  illustrations  of  texts 
supposed  to  be  difficult.  Liberal  men  are  loudly  called  upon  to  stay  the  pro- 
gress of  fanaticism.  The  policy  of  the  dominant  sects  entangles  thousands  of 
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of  ambition  and  sectarism  are  rapidly  advanced.  The  peace  of  families  has 
been  broken,  reason  has  been  destroyed  ;  and  suicide  has  frequently  occurred, 
as  the  direct  result  of  the  measures  adopted  by  the  leaders  of  certain  sects. 
One  leading  object  of  the  '  TRUMPET,'  is,  to  resist  the  evils  here  described. 

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the  same  proportion  for  a  less  or  greater  number.  Letters  to  be  directed  to 
Thomas  Whttemore,  37  Cornhill,  Boston,  Mass. 


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